There and Back Again
by And The Moment's Gone
Summary: On the first anniversary of Aaron Echolls death, Veronica and Logan decide to finally set their issues to rest, at the Echolls’ cabin, with six of their nearest and dearest friends.
1. Prologue : How They Got There

**Title**: There and Back Again  
**Word** **Count**: 2,012 prologue only  
**Rating**: PG-14 for language may change in the future  
**Warnings**/**Spoilers**: If you know that Veronica and Logan broke up, Logan asked Parker out and Cassidy Casablancas' role in the second season, you're more than good to go.  
**Summary**: On the second anniversary of Aaron Echolls death, Veronica and Logan decide to finally set their issues to rest, at the Echolls' cabin, with six of their nearest and dearest friends.  
**Official Disclaimer**: All Veronica Mars characters and plots belong to Rob Thomas and the CW. I do not hold stock either the man or the company. Veronica Mars, Logan Echolls, and any other character featured are NOT mine.

* * *

**Prologue**

_8:15 am  
Friday, June 8th 2007_

Despite the fact that he argued with her for at least an hour the night before, Logan now knew why Veronica had felt the need to pack up his Range Rover the night before. When he added up the time it took him to actually get out of bed after his five forty-five wake-up call, the half an hour that he spent in the shower and the forty-five minutes it took to get Dick up and out of bed, they would have been a little over two hours behind schedule had they not. And that didn't count the stop at Burger King on the way to Veronica's or the twenty minutes they spent mulling around the living room while Keith pretended that camping trips with her ex and his mentally impaired best friend was something his daughter did every weekend. Finally, when Veronica emerged, Logan was allowed to stop studying the spot on the wall that he had met personally two summers ago.

"Sorry I'm running late." She slipped past him on the way to the kitchen, and deposited a glass and a plate in the sink before turning to her father and running a hand through her hair. "Phone numbers are on the cork board in my room in case I don't answer my cell." She told him slowly, losing speed as she pulled a folder out of her laptop bag and read over the contents. "Wallace and Piz are picking up my car sometime around noon, so don't be worried if you come home for lunch and it's gone." She still hadn't actually looked up at anyone yet, and Logan had to curb the urge to laugh at her. "And – "

"We went over all of this last night honey." Keith Mars had to be one of the most understanding parents on the planet. Then again, Logan shook his head, if your daughter had become the social pariah her sophomore year of high school, chopped all of her hair off and started running a PI business from her locker, you'd have to learn to cope somehow. Keith kissed the top of his daughter's head and then smiled. "Just go on your trip and have fun."

For half a second it seemed like Veronica didn't know what to do with herself.

Logan grinned as she did her best fish impression and reached for her laptop bag. "This all you need?" He asked quickly, pointing to the bag.

"I packed a pillow last night, right?" She asked slowly.

"And we have four from the suite." Logan confirmed. He didn't think that he had to inform Veronica that Dick had confiscated all but the one from Logan's room for the backseat. "The munchies and the cooler are in the SUV and we gassed up last night after we went to the store."

For half a second, Logan actually thought that he had answered all of the questions that Veronica could come up with. Then she stopped. "Where are the board games?" She threw at him slowly.

To someone who hadn't been drilled for two hours about the proper use of code words, Veronica's question would have seemed like just another one of her 'we must have everything before we leave' quirks. Thankfully for Logan, he had paid attention as she outlined everything for the trip one hundred times. "One suitcase is at the bottom of our stuff in the SUV." He reminded her. "And the other is coming up with Mac and Parker."

Seemingly satisfied, Veronica stepped up and kissed her father on the cheek. "I'll be back next Monday." She reminded him, grabbing her messenger bag off of the chair and pointing to the door. "Let's go."

Seating arrangements had been something else that they had discussed the previous night. Dick was in the back seat before Veronica had time to open the passenger door, and she double checked the contents of the cooler as Logan double checked the trunk. When he finally climbed into his own seat, Logan took a moment to just stare out the windshield before starting the car. "We good?" He asked slowly, looking to Veronica. On her nod, he turned his attention to the back seat. "Do we need a bathroom stop before we get on the road?"

For half a second Dick looked confused. This of course was why the question was directed at him. "I'm good." He answered quickly, shifting in his seat.

Logan allowed himself another second of staring at his best friend before firing up the SUV, jamming it into gear and backing out of the parking space.

* * *

_10:00 am  
Friday, June 8th 2007_

Awake? Check. Last final of the semester taken? Check. Hyper-happy roommate buckled into the front seat? Mac looked to her right and shook her head. Double Check. And as her blonde counterpart continued the babble that she started the second she met Mac in the quad Mac wished she and Veronica added duct tape to the list. Or at the very least a set of ear plugs.

"How long do you think the trips gonna be?" Parker asked quickly, running a hand through her hair and rolled down the window. "Are we gonna get there first?"

_Yes, ear plugs would be nice._ Mac shook the thought from her head and focused on pulling out of the Hurst main parking lot. "Logan and Veronica left earlier this morning." She informed the blonde, checking her mirrors one more time. Parker's mouth started moving again and instead of listening, Mac wondered if they should stop for something to eat before getting on the road. She wasn't too sure what Parker packed as snack food for this trip.

"Mac?"

Shaking her head, the brunette turned her attention back to her roommate. "Huh?"

"I asked if you were sure that leaving your boyfriend alone for a week was really a good idea." Parker only looked mildly annoyed at the fact that Mac wasn't paying attention. This was a step up from her annoyance at the Grande the night before as they loaded up the vehicles and discussed directions and discretion. Then again, when you're banished to the living room with Dick and Piz while everyone else talked exit strategies there isn't much left for you to be but annoyed. "I mean, I know he's your first boyfriend, but you have to have learned something from your friends."

For half a second, Mac wished that she could correct Parker. Bronson Pope, as sweet and loveable as he was, was definitely _not_ her first boyfriend. Although, now that she thought about it, admitting to your roommate of a year that your first boyfriend not only raped your best friend, but killed a bus full of your classmates and threw himself off the roof of the Neptune Grande while enclosed in a moving vehicle for at the least five hours was probably not a good idea. She and Veronica had agreed never to broach the subject of Cassidy Casablancas in their lifetimes for reasons such as that.

Instead, Mac just smiled. "His family's taking their annual trip to the south of somewhere." She pointed out. "We'll be back before he is."

Oddly enough that answer seemed to satisfy Parker, who took a sip of her mineral water and kept going. "So tell me about Veronica's friend."

To any normal person, there could actually be five correct answers to that question. Yes, Veronica Mars only had a handful of trusted friends, but only one that Parker would be interested in. "Just an old friend of hers." She responded slowly. There wasn't much that she could divulge to her roommate. Veronica had even nixed the usage of said friend's name until they reached the cabin.

"Does she have a lot of those?"

There weren't too many places this conversation could go that would lead Veronica to still speak to her at the end. "You'd have to ask Veronica." She cut off quickly. "So, where to for breakfast? I just finished my last final and I feel the need to eat grease."

* * *

_12:46 pm  
Friday, June 8th 2007_

"Dude, I can't find my iPod!"

Wallace shook his head as he let himself into the Mars apartment. Veronica had been nice enough to give him the spare house key, but as usual with his miniature blonde friend, she only had one car key at her disposal so he had to steal it from the house. Theirs was an interesting friendship. "Double check the car, we've got to be at the airport in half an hour."

"Why couldn't Veronica just do this herself?" Piz was halfway down the stairs by the time he was done mumbling, and Wallace made a beeline back to Veronica's room to relieve her bedside drawer of her car keys and packet she left for him. He opened the folder and double checked the contents. Drivers license, passports, two credit cards and an ident-a-kid card. Suddenly Wallace was glad that he wasn't footing the bill on this one.

"Wallace?"

Shoving the contents of the folder in his back pocket, Wallace grabbed the right by ten piece of paper with a name on it and headed back into the living room. "Hey Mr. Mars." He offered quickly.

"Grand theft auto on your list of things to do this weekend?" Keith asked offhandedly, pulling a salad out of the fridge. If Wallace were a betting man, he would have guessed that Veronica had prepared a weeks worth of lunches and dinner for her father before she left.

"Breaking and entering to start the day." Wallace held up Veronica's car keys and made sure to keep the blank side of the piece of paper facing the sheriff. Coolest father of the year or not, Keith Mars shouldn't be privy to every single time his daughter broke the law. "She couldn't give me the keys last night."

Keith nodded as he shoved another forkful into his mouth. "Sounds like my kid." He said thoughtfully.

"Come on man, I thought we were on a deadline." Piz stumbled into the room with a huff, crossing his arms against his chest and sighing. "We have to be at the – "

There were days when Wallace wished his roommate was born with an ounce of forethought. Announcing your best friends' plans in front of her _sheriff _father was not a good idea. "Cabin before seven." He cut in, glaring at Piz as he smiled at Keith. "You find your iPod?"

Holding it up, Piz smiled. "Mr. Mars."

Keith didn't even move to acknowledge the boy. He just kept his eyes on his daughter's best friend. "Drive carefully." He reminded Wallace, like the true father he was. "And have Veronica call me when you kids get settled. I like knowing my child's alive."

"You got it." Wallace palmed Veronica's keys and shoved Piz out the door. "You just shouldn't speak." He warned the man, unlocking the car as soon as they were down the stairs. Thankful for Veronica's foresight and the fact that she and Logan had packed everything that he and Piz had brought to the suite the night before, they were now as ready as they could be to get going. "Check the glove box for the flight information." He started the car and pulled out of the space, double checking the mirrors as they went.

When Piz held up her another envelope, Wallace tore into the packet and read over what Veronica laughingly labeled as instructions. "North Gate. United Airlines." He read aloud, grinning at how she wrote it out with spaces so even someone as slow as Corny couldn't have trouble understanding it.

"She even included a picture, dude." Wallace shook his head and turned his attention back to the road. "Cute."

"Yeah." Wallace shot off a quick text message to Veronica, telling her that her car had been picked up and they were more or less on schedule before pulling off on the Neptune Airport exit.

Veronica's response was quick and probably thought out.

_Be careful._

* * *

This is just the Prologue. If you want to see more, click the little button on the bottom that says _Review _


	2. Chapter 1

**Title**: There and Back Again

**Word****Count**: 8,270 chapter one only

**Rating**: PG-14 for language May change in the future

**Warnings**/**Spoilers**: If you know that Veronica and Logan broke up, Logan asked Parker out and Cassidy Casablancas' role in the second season, you're more than good to go.

**Summary**: On the first anniversary of Aaron Echolls death, Veronica and Logan decide to finally set their issues to rest, at the Echolls' cabin, with six of their nearest and dearest friends.

**Official Disclaimer**: All Veronica Mars characters and plots belong to Rob Thomas and the CW. I do not hold stock either the man or the company. Veronica Mars, Logan Echolls, and any other character featured are NOT mine.

* * *

**Chapter One:**

_1:00 pm_

_Friday, June 8th 2007_

There really were no words for the feeling of release after spending four and a half hours trapped in a Range Rover with Dick Casablancas. And had she known that Dick was going to be wide awake at eight thirty in the morning and not pass out once they were on the road, Veronica might not have shied away from the thought of squeezing in to Mac's bug with the computer tech and her roommate.

She still wasn't sure why they were including roommates on a trip like this anyway.

The second Logan threw the vehicle into park, her seatbelt was off and her door was open, purposely ignoring the squeak that came from her ex-boyfriend when she slammed the passenger door just a little too hard. "Never **_ever_** again!" She announced to the side of the mountain that she was now facing.

Despite the fact that he was probably more annoyed than she was about how the ride had progressed, Logan couldn't help but to chuckle at the way that Veronica was now calmly opening the door back up so she could collect her bag and shoes. "I know the closest cabin is five miles away, Ronnie, but I think you just scared the neighbors." He popped the back door open and vaguely remembered halfway around the back that the child safety locks were on. "How far behind us are Mac and Parker?"

A few seconds and a look up to confirm that Veronica had indeed heard him and he smiled when she met him in the rear of the vehicle, opening one of the side doors to let Dick out on her way. "They left after Mac's Cisco final." She reminded him after a second, looking down at her Sidekick before closing it and shoving it in her pocket. Three messages in the last hour, and none of them from the aforementioned friend. "I'd say about four hours." She neglected to mention that the trip would take people who actually followed the speed limit slightly longer than it had taken them.

Logan caught her hidden lecture and shook his head. Some things would never change. "And Wallace?"

Veronica noticed that he had left out Wallace's passenger, and decided for once not to provoke him. "They've picked up my car and are headed to the airport." She promised, grabbing her duffle bag from the top of the pile and handing Dick his. "Wallace promised that they would call when they hit the highway."

Logan shared a quick look with his ex before shaking his head. "This feels too easy." He stuck out unevenly, shouldering his bag and then taking the laptop bag that Veronica was handing him. It almost amazed him that the bag she had offering was his own.

"It's fine." She promised him. And it was. After all, she had personally seen to every detail. Absolutely nothing had been left to chance for this trip. "Besides, we all need this week." She looked up at Logan pointedly as he led the way up to the cabin

Then again, he thought as he twisted his body to unlock the door, **_cabin_** was more of a relative word. It was wooden, in the middle of the woods and slightly rustic, but that was where the line was drawn. From its six bedrooms and two seperate lounges, dual hot tubs (one upstairs on the deck and one by the pool) and gourmet kitchen in the back of the house to the rich blues and reds of the hideously expensive tapestries hanging around there was no doubt to anyone that this cabin was built with everything in mind **_but_** roughing it. After all, the only sport that the man that bought the place had indulged in involved airplanes and stewardesses. He dropped his bags right inside the door and motioned for Dick and Veronica to do that same.

"Doesn't mean it doesn't feel easy." He pointedly slid the door shut and smiled. "Welcome to the Echolls' family cabin." Logan stepped over his bag and turned to the left, nodding slowly at the fact that the caretaker had sent a cleaning crew up as promised and aired the place out. There was also an odd sense of satisfaction when he realized that they had also gotten rid of most of the family pictures that used to be on the mantle. "Make yourselves at home."

As if that was permission enough, Dick launched himself at the stairs taking two at a time in his quest for the perfect bedroom. Veronica just set her stuff down next to Logan's and followed him into what had to be the formal family room. "The kitchen stocked?" She asked carefully, making sure to give him a wide berth. He hadn't time to fully exorcise his demons from this place yet.

"Everything you put on the list." He promised. For a second he felt the need to remind her that someone was on call in case they needed anything else. Then he remembered who he was talking to. "Although if you think I'm cooking, you've got another thing coming."

"As if you knew how." She crossed her arms in front of herself and moved up to the hideously huge picture window looking across the lawn off and off the side of the cliff. "Should we go ahead and post the rule that Dick's not allowed out front when he's drunk?" She ask after a second, keeping her voice light.

"Which means we should go ahead and post the rule that Dick's not allowed out front." Logan nodded to the dining room where they're beverage selection had been lain out on the table. He'd left his own list for the caretaker to ensure a stocked bar and a week without having to leave. And when asked, he would just point to the industrial fridge in the garage for the non-alcoholic drinks. Veronica had made it a point a many times since they started discussing this trip that she would never have more than one alcoholic drink, poured by herself of course, around Dick ever again. "One of the master's on the first floor." He pointed through the wall to the other side of the cabin. "You can take that if you want."

"I'll put my stuff in there." She said after a second. "Just so I can have access to the largest bathroom." Logan laughed at that, and she smiled. "But I'll let our guest decide if they want the room down here."

"Nine people to six rooms." Logan sighed, redoing the math in his head. He knew without a doubt that he was getting the second floor master bed room. Even when he and his sister were younger, that room had always been his. In a way he was kind of worried about where she would wind up thought. Wallace and Piz rooming wasn't a big deal, and if push came to shove he was sure that Mac and Parker would be willing to share a room, but Veronica would probably wind up the odd man out no matter how they sliced it. "I'd take it if I were you."

"That's just because you're guaranteed the largest room upstairs." She reminded him."

Logan smiled again and turned to face her. "You could always share with me." He threw out playfully. They had been apart for four months, dated other people, but there were still days when it felt like they hadn't split.

She shook her head as she retreated to the foyer to collect her bags. "We've been here for ten minutes and the innuendo is out in full force." She ran a hand through her hair and allowed herself a look over her shoulder so he could see her smile. "Must be a personal record for you."

The door shut behind her, and Veronica allowed herself a moment to breathe as she surveyed the master room. She knew without a doubt that it had been repainted and completely refurnished since the untimely demise of the master of the house. For one thing, the ridiculous 'family' portrait that Aaron had commissioned was now gone, alone with the purple silk sheets that that she and Lilly had giggled over when she was fifteen. The elegant oak canopy bed that Lynn had been so proud of was gone as well. Veronica was actually curious if Logan had picked out the elegant modern aged iron bed that was before her. _**Probably** **not**._ She decided with a sigh. She dropped her laptop bag on top of her pillow on the bed and then flopped down next to it.

* * *

_4:00 pm_

_Friday June 8th 2007_

Logan was on the porch with his first drink of the day when Mac's VW Beetle pulled up behind the Range Rover. He checked his watch as he stood, smiling down at the woman who probably hadn't noticed that they were being watched. The trunk popped even before Mac climbed out of the drivers seat, and Logan couldn't help but laugh when the very first thing that came out with her was the dual laptop bag that he had gotten her for her birthday back when he and Veronica were still 'on'

"Need any help?" He asked, holding both hands to show that he had left his scotch on the porch.

Mac handed him her bag just as Parker managed to retrieve hers from underneath a pile of pillows. "A strapping young man is here to save us from our luggage." She laughed, shoving a purple lock of hair behind her ear and dropping a backpack onto the ground. "I don't know how we managed to load up the vehicle without you."

"Dumb luck." Logan insisted, taking the bag that Parker was struggling with and slipping it over his head so the strap sat sideways across his chest. "How was the trip?"

Mac popped him on the arm on her way past him. "It was a six hour road trip." She said offhandedly. "You had one just like it not too long ago."

"Ours lasted less time." Parker slammed the trunk behind him and Mac paused to raise her eyebrows. "I had Dick and Veronica in an enclosed area, I wanted it over as soon as possible." He shrugged as if to ask if it was a good point and then pushed past her into the house. "By the way, Dick took the first room on the left at the top of the stairs." He warned as Parker tripped on the last step. He turned to her and when she didn't say anything he went on. "He's currently in the hot tub off the back deck." A pointed look to Mac and he winked. "Approach at your own risk."

"Approach at your own risk?"

Mac turned to her roommate and almost laughed at the confusion etched on her face. "It's the nice way of saying that his trunks are probably still in the suitcase that he shoved into his closet." She supplied, following Logan into the family room. "Where's Veronica?"

"She passed out on the couch in the den." He nodded to the stairs leading down from the foyer. "I'm supposed to wake her up when Wallace calls again." He patted the Sidekick attached to his side and winked again when Mac noticed that it didn't look like his Blackberry.

"So he – erm." Mac dropped her duffle next to the couch and looked at Parker for a second. She still wasn't too sure how they were handling the situation with their guests. "Everything went alright?" She transferred her look to Logan and allowed her eyebrows to un-crease when he nodded.

"Everything's fine." He assured her, more than a little giddy. Even though he had been told time and time again that this week had been more than well thought out by Veronica and her co-conspirators he couldn't help the doubts. And it wasn't until they had gotten the first call from Wallace saying that the pick-up had gone better than planned that he realized that he was probably more excited than Veronica that she had been able to set things up. "A little noisy." He laughed as he recalled the call from Wallace. "But fine."

Mac dropped herself onto the couch and smiled. It was definitely a wonderful rarity that something was working out for Logan and Veronica. Especially both of them at the same time. "Glad I could help." She added before looking around. "We figured out other sleeping arrangements yet?"

"Ronnie's claimed the first floor master." He nodded back the way they came and smiled. "Although that's up for negotiation once everyone gets here. And I'm in the room at the end of the fall upstairs." He flopped onto the chair in front of Mac and lifted his feet up onto his mother's antique coffee table. "There's three rooms left, so it's up to you who's doubling."

"Tell me again why Dick gets his own room?" Parker slid her purse off her shoulder and joined Mac on the couch. "Why can't your friend just share with him?"

Logan laughed as the back door opened. "If you don't at least have a towel on, I'm sending you back outside!" He shouted at the kitchen and then turning back to Parker pointedly. The back door shut and then reopened again. "Because I'm not putting an impressionable mind in the same room with Dick Casablancas for even one night." He said carefully. I didn't matter than when it came down to it, he really didn't have much say. Everyone fell where they pretty much wanted to on this trip. "He gets his own room."

When the individual of discussion finally wandered into the room, beer in one hand and the end to the towel loosely wrapped around his waist in the other. Parker had no choice but to concede Logan's point. "You know that when the guys get here it's not going to be clothing optional?" She threw out casually, as if watching Dick parade around in a pink fluffy was something she did everyday. **_Then again_**, she reminded herself with another frown, _**there was a time**…_

"Ronnie up yet?" Dick didn't hesitate to add himself to the decorum, by sitting himself on the coffee table beside Logan's feet. There really was nothing to do but wonder at how nonplussed he seemed to be at the fact that he was still only in a towel.

Logan's foot connected with Dick's hip, and the man shifted back to his feet. "Still asleep." He told his friend slowly. "And if you're not dressed by the time I need to wake her up, I'm not responsible for what she does to you." Dick's head jerked upward and he nodded carefully. There was about a second of catch up time for his brain and then he was almost running out of the room and up the stairs. Veronica style pain seemed to motivate Dick more than almost anything else on the planet. "You ladies need anything, or am I allowed to go unpack?"

"Go." Mac swatted at Logan's knee and pulled herself off the couch when he rose.

For a brief second, Logan was almost relieved. There was almost an ironic smile on his face as he nodded to Mac and his ex. "I'll be a shout away if you think of anything." He decided, turning and taking the stairs slowly.

* * *

_7:22 pm_

_Friday, June 8th 2007_

He'd been staring at the ceiling for forty-five minutes when the phone attached to his hip went off. It took him a minute, trying to decide when he had changed the ring tones before he realized that he had Veronica's. One quick push of a button and he pulled the phone to his ear. "Sex-a-holism anonymous, how may a transfer your call?"

"Remind me to never let you answer my phone."

His grin only seemed to get wider and jerked himself off of the bed. "You're not Wallace." He said cheerfully, running a hand through his hair.

"And you're not Veronica." The voice countered. "What'd she do, fall asleep on you?"

"She never was one for the ride." Logan responded. "Great during, but craps out the second it's over." There was a second as he weighed his words, wondering if the person on the other end of the phone took it the same way he did after he said it. "How far out are you guys?"

"Turned off Chapel Road about five minutes ago." Wallace instructed from his place in the front. There was a brief exchange before the voice was back. "Assuming that he remembers to turn at the next right and not run us off of the side of the mountain and we'll be there in no more than five."

Logan thudded down the stairs and turned to the right to head down the next few steps. He turned the corner and breathed a sigh of relief at the fact that Dick was on the floor of the den playing one race game or another, fully dressed. The sound was muted as well, which meant that Dick actually valued his life this week. "After all the trouble we went through to get you here?" He asked with yet another grin. He slid down onto the couch and touched Veronica's foot. "And Dick's even put clothes on. This is a special occasion, dude. He better not screw this up."

There was a good half second where Veronica couldn't remember how she got to be laying on a huge leather couch in a room with a big screen TV. Then there was the fact that Dick was playing on the floor with a controller in his hand and Logan was praising his wardrobe. Then she finally sat up and noticed the phone in Logan's hand. "That them?" She asked softly, feeling more then a little groggy.

"I'm only sure that Veronica's wrath weighs somewhat in Wallace's decision to pay attention to the road." There was a squeal on the car's end of the line and Piz laughed. "We're on the home stretch now."

The phone went dead and Logan didn't even bother cursing at his friend. "You've got like three minutes to wake up." He warned her, tapping her foot one more time. He stood again and headed up the stairs and laughed when Veronica beat him to the top, turning to run into her room.

The Saturn's headlights were the first thing he saw, cutting across the seven o'clock haze of the forest on the eastern side of the property. He heard Veronica shouting something inside and prayed that the car would pull up just a little slower to save him from the verbal ass kicking he was likely to get if Veronica found out that he was the first to greet the newcomers. The car made it to the side of Mac's Beetle, and Logan laughed out loud at the fact that he hadn't taken one step down the stairs before Veronica was on ground level.

"Where the hell have you guys been?" She squealed at Wallace, hugging him before heading to the back of the vehicle. "We have been worried sick."

"You were on the phone with us at least once an hour, Superfly." Wallace countered, stretching his legs and waving to Logan. "You knew we were fine."

"I don't think that's the point right now." Logan took a step back as Veronica turned on him as well. "Just saying."

Veronica shot daggers at her best friend and her ex even as Piz was unloading the back seat. "Both of you just need to be quiet." She warned, relieving Piz of the child in his arms.

* * *

_7:32 pm_

_Friday, June 8th 2007_

When he'd first gotten the news three months ago, Duncan Kane had been more than surprised. He'd been in Australia for more than a year, completely reworked his life around the daughter that he had more or less stolen from her grandparents and never in his life did he think that he would actually be able to return to Neptune or his friends again. Then one afternoon, sometime between picking his daughter up from daycare and dinner, he was checking his e-mail and lo and behold, Veronica's name popped up. Well, to be honest the name wasn't the part that got him. When he had seen it, he had had no idea who Betty Saturn was, but with a message like 'about Lilly' he had felt more that compelled to open it. After two hours of staring at his computer screen and three months of phone conversations using a disable phones, Duncan had never been happier that he had. A fifteen hour flight and two layovers not withstanding.

"You should have just put **_her_** on the plane."

Duncan's head shot up at the sound of his best friend's voice, and he couldn't help the chuckle that came out. "It's almost like I'm not even here." He answered back, stepping closer to the porch and smiling at the vision that Veronica and Lilly made together. Seeing the look on both girls' faces almost made returning to the states and risking years in prison worth it.

"You get used to it after a while with that one." Logan nodded to Veronica and pulled his eyes up to meet his friends. "It's good to have you back, man." He decided after a second, holding his hand out to Duncan.

Locking eyes with Logan, Duncan smiled. "It's good to be back." He took the offered hand and pulled Logan into a half hug. They separated quickly, no need to make themselves look like girls, and Duncan turned to Wallace. "And thanks for coming to get me."

"It's all part of the 'Veronica's my best friend' package." Wallace popped the trunk and grabbed his bag. "It was either pick you up or have her kill me. And she has ways of making sure they never find a body."

"We would have just made you ride up and room with Dick." Logan announced slowly, appearing to weigh Wallace's options.

There was a chuckle from behind the car. "Give me Piz's music and the screaming baby any day." Wallace shuttered. Almost anything would be worse than the damnation of being Dick's 'trip buddy' all week.

Logan gave Veronica another minute and a half while Wallace and Piz started unloading the trunk of the car. There was a slightly too large carry-on that Duncan claimed almost immediately. If Logan were to guess he would say that it contained most of Lilly's things. Before they left, Logan and Veronica had bought Duncan a weeks worth of clothes for the trip, so the only thing that he had needed to worry about was Lilly and her things. Logan had even sprung for a top of the line sleeper playpen so he didn't have to worry about baggage claim. "Okay Ronnie." He started as nicely as he could. "Everyone else wants to say 'hi' to the baby too."

The sound of her laugh was almost worth it. "She's gotten to big." Veronica whispered as she moved closer to Logan and Duncan with the child. "And so quiet."

"Proof that she's your kid, man." Logan laughed and held out his hands. Everyone joined in when the little girl all but leapt into his open arms. "And she likes me." He kissed the top of the baby's head and winked at Duncan. "That's what you get for naming her Lilly."

Duncan didn't have time to snub the statement before all one hundred pounds of short blonde pixie launched herself into his arms. She looked different than he remembered. Longer hair, darker eyes. She'd filled out a little more, not that that was a bad thing, and he couldn't help but to notice that there was a fresh bruise on her shoulder to match one on her wrist. God only knew if he would be able to garner an explanation as to what kind of case led to them.

"I can't believe you're really here!" Veronica had never looked so much like her true old self then she did when she squealed.

Again, Duncan could only laugh.

"And I can't believe you haven't grown an inch." He received a slug to his arm for his trouble and couldn't hide the wince. The tiny blonde still packed a hell of a punch. "Ow!"

The front door opened, not half a second later, and Dick was off the porch in a heartbeat. "DK!" He shouted with more enthusiasm that anyone had seen out of him in a few days. He clapped one hand into Duncan's and dropped the other onto the shoulder that Veronica's head wasn't resting on. "Long time, no see man!"

"And you still haven't seen him." Logan didn't even look up to confirm that Dick had heard him. They had already had the discussion about what would happen to any of them if they let it slip that Duncan Kane had stepped foot on American soil. Even if they did it after he left. "You need help with those Wallace?"

Veronica's friend just shook his head. "We packed light this trip." Piz unloaded three more bags from the trunk and Logan's eyebrows rose skeptically. "Or at least I did."

In typical Logan Echolls fashion, Piz was easily forgotten, and Duncan cut his eyes to Veronica in question. When she shrugged, he turned back to his oldest friend, who was now allowing his precocious daughter to tug violently on the shell necklace that was a constant around his neck. "You got anything to eat around here?" He asked carefully, transferring his gaze from Logan to Veronica and back. "We fed Lilly just past Bakersfield, but I could definitely go for something more filling than chips right about now."

"If you can remember how to man a grill, we've got steaks."

Despite the fact that he had a firm hold on the child, Veronica's hand collided with the back of Logan's head easily. "**_You're_** grabbing a beer and relaxing." She told Duncan pointedly, smacking Logan once more on the back for good measure. "Dick can help Logan with the grill."

"We're putting Dick in charge of out food?" Duncan held his hand out to his daughter when she started to fuss about the change in location, and Logan marveled at how easily she calmed down again. "I haven't been around for a while, but I don't think that's the best idea ever."

"Then Wallace and Piz can help Logan." Veronica insisted, rolling her eyes when Logan shook his head and forced a cough. She sidled up beside her ex and bumped into the side that the child wasn't on. "But **_Duncan's_** not doing anything but sitting on his ass and enjoying our company today."

The laugh that came from Logan was one that no one had heard in a long time. "Such language." He covered Lilly's ear with one hand and shook a finger at her. "And you yelled at me for behavior."

"What's going on in here?" Mac stuck her head in the room from the kitchen and smiled up at the face of Duncan Kane. Situations being what they were he, and the laughter and smiles that came with him, was definitely a sight for sore eyes. "Roberto." She said pointedly, sticking out her hand.

"Only in according to Argentina." He joked, taking her hand. "How you doing Mac?"

"Can't complain too much." She smiled. A quick look to Logan and the child in his arms, and the smile only grew. "And you are beautiful." She added with a coo. Lilly twisted to wave happily at the newcomer and then proceeded to latch a hand in the purple streak on the left side of Mac's head.

Duncan shook his head, fully prepared to reprimand his only child if the need arose. "Am I going to get an intro?" His mouth closed promptly and he turned to the regard the person who seemed to appear out of nowhere.

Parker had obviously changed out of her travel clothes in the time it took Logan to wind down; Unless, of course, she had had her swimsuit on underneath her Hearst gym t-shirt and jeans. Logan shook his head as he realized that he wouldn't put anything past his ex-girlfriend. "Erm…" Mac stepped back and pointed to her roommate. "My roommate, Parker Lee." She started, throwing a look to Logan and Veronica respectively. "This is Roberto Nalbandion." Veronica snorted and Mac shook her head. "No, that's not right. Um… DK Ellington? Ron Logan?"

Duncan finally held his hand out to Mac's roommate after the short brunette had gone through every alias that he had used, including the one he had taken up in Australia and the one that Veronica had arranged for him to get into the states with. "Duncan Kane." He held his hand out and smirked.

"Oh **_my_** God!" Parker's eyes widened and Logan braced himself for the shriek that was about to take place. "Oh my God!"

Logan's hand clapped Duncan on the back and he nodded. "Looks like you're more famous than you thought, dude."

"Mac and Veronica **_so_** did not tell me they knew you!" She shuttered and ran a hand through her hair, more than a little star struck. "You're the guy who's sister was – " Mac's hand clamped firmly over Parker's mouth, and the room shifted into silence.

It wasn't as if Duncan hadn't been expecting that sort of reaction from somebody. When Logan had first told him about Wallace's roommate, Duncan actually had expected Piz to be the first to bring up the subject tabooed by the trio of friends since they had returned their lives to some semblance of normal. It was strange enough when Piz merely shook his hand, helped his buckle Lilly into the back seat and didn't even bat an eye at the fact that they just picked a wanted fugitive up from the airport like it was just another day. He would have been prepared if Piz had brought it up, having just the right combination of words to throw back. But standing there in front of Parker and a room full of his nearest and dearest, Duncan could only blink.

"She looks like you." Piz supplied somewhat lamely, pointing to the child who was watching the lack of commotion with a cautious eye. "Except the hair of course."

Logan shook his head clear and handed Lilly off to her father. Somehow he knew that the child grounded Duncan more than anything else. "No she doesn't." He assured his best friend with a smile, brushing the tufts of blonde away from the child's face. "Round cheeks, big green eyes, blonde hair…" He patted the kid on the head and playfully poked her one the nose. "You did right when you named her." He shook his head again and coughed. "I'm going to start the grill."

"We'll take care of the sides." Mac took firm hold of Parker's arm and practically shoved the girl in the direction of the kitchen.

"Sorry about that." Veronica perched herself on the edge of the coffee table just as Duncan sat down. "I keep forgetting that the novelty of that never really gets old."

Duncan nodded. "She's been gone almost five years." He returned, looking up from his daughters head. "And at least we know what happened now." There was a second when he thought Veronica could almost read his mind. "I heard about Aaron." Another cut around the room and then Duncan's eyes were glues to his daughter's head. "Can't say I'm sorry he's dead."

"I don't suppose you could." Veronica's eyes flashed recognition for a split second before finally acknowledging the other people in the room. "We've got Lilly's sleeper set up in the downstairs master." She said finally. "You can take the room with her, if you want. My stuff's in there, but I don't mind sharing with Wallace."

"Of the five guys in the house, you're planning on sharing with Wallace?"

Off Duncan't skeptical look, Veronica rolled her eyes. "Yes, five guys." She laughed holding up one hand. "Two exes, Dick Casablancas, and Piz…" The fingers on her hand dropped as she listed them. She at least had the sense to throw an apologetic glance to Wallace's roommate, noting that Dick had dutifully followed Logan out to the terrace. "I think I'm safer with the brotha."

"You can take the master." Duncan laughed when Veronica's head snapped back towards his. "I'm probably gonna wind up passed out on the floor with Logan and Dick anyway." He smiled as he remembered the last summer that they had all spent time up at the Echolls cabin. "And it'll help Lil' if she can feel someone else in the room with her in a strange place."

Veronica's smile was wider than Duncan had ever thought he'd seen it yet. "Then lets go get you two settled in."

* * *

_8:15 pm_

_Friday, June 8th 2007_

Getting Lilly bathed and in bed had taken considerably less time than Duncan had anticipated. He wasn't too sure if it was the long trip that had over excited her, or all of the new people who had passed her around, but his daughter was almost ready to pass out in the tub. He had left the bathroom light on in the master room and clipped the portable baby monitor to his belt as he shut the door. The beer was thrust into his hand before he had even thought to ask Dick or Veronica to point him to the drinks, and after watching Parker fumble over her words for a few sentences he decided that maybe it would be for the best if he kicked himself out of the kitchen and left Veronica and the girls to do whatever it was they were doing.

He wasn't really looking for Logan when he found him. He was sitting and the top of a rather expensive looking iron picnic table with a glass top, staring into the flames of the grill. Duncan smiled as he tried to recall the last time he had seen Logan Echolls actually being reminiscent. He made sure to stop as he came down the back steps, offering his friend a genuine smile as he dropped himself into a wicker chair and setting him beer on the tabletop about a foot from Logan's knee.

They didn't speak for the longest time, Logan keeping one eye on the remaining steaks while Duncan studied his friend's profile against the backdrop of the lights on the mountain.

Finally Duncan coughed, and Logan couldn't help his smile. "How was the flight?"

Duncan laughed. All right, if that was where Logan wanted to start, Duncan would oblige. "Makes me miss leer jets." He admitted honestly. An international 747 with two hundred passengers and a fussy baby to keep occupied only served to remind him what he had given up for his daughter. There wasn't a second before he reminded himself that he would do it all again in a heartbeat if it meant that Lilly was safe and happy. "Thank God Lil' slept through most of the layovers."

"She looks like she could be a handful." Logan noted, taking a sip of the beer that Duncan hadn't noticed that he had. "You've done good with her."

"She's the only good thing about the last four years of my life." Duncan admitted, turning to the house briefly before shaking his head. **_Might as well get this over with_**. "Can we get the heart to heart out of the way so we can enjoy the rest of the week?" He asked quickly.

Logan's laugh was stilted, his eyes finally leaving the stone monstrosity that served as the grill. "I thought you and I resolved our issues before you left." He said at last.

"We've got more than enough left." Duncan assured him, tipping his beer bottle. "I just don't want to have to tip toe around each other. Veronica's spent too much time planning this week for it to suck." Another pause and Duncan noticed that Logan was studying his hands. "She looks good." He threw out carefully.

"She totaled my car." Logan finished his beer and turned to Duncan.

Duncan almost couldn't believe his ears. "She what?" He asked quickly, throwing another look to the house. He understood that Logan was steering him away from more serious waters, and for the sake of dinner, he allowed it. "Ronnie killed Big Bird?"

"I loaned it to her for three hours." Logan didn't know if he was more pissed about remembering the demise of his beloved SUV or the fact that Duncan didn't take it seriously enough. "She had to run some errands for her dad after her convertible finally croaked and she just happens to get T-boned by a sports car that ran a light."

At that point, Duncan couldn't help but laughing out loud. "You're blaming _**her** _because someone in a sports car ran a red light and slammed into her?" He asked quickly. Logan huffed and flipped the last steak as Duncan tried not to laugh again. "Tell me again how you two managed to get along long enough to date?"

"Says the guy who ran out on her to flee the country with his illegitimate daughter by his dead ex-girlfriend." Logan pointed out, pulling another beer out from God knew where and popping the top. "You don't get to tell me how screwed up my relationship was."

Duncan took another sip of his beer and held it up, wondering how exactly to continue with a conversation suck as the one they were having. "I'm about to guess that you asked her out again." He sighed, shaking his head. There was an odd look of pride in Logan's eyes as he stood and turned back to the food.

"The magic number is three." He said after a long moment.

Oddly enough, Duncan didn't need clarification. He wasn't counting the couple they were after Aaron was arrested. Though it didn't help him come up with what to say about it. "What happened?"

Logan shrugged. "First one was a fight. I don't think we even officially split, or that either one of us remembers what it was about." He admitted. "She was being stubborn, I was being over protective. The usual shit." Logan pulled a few pieces of meat off of the grill and onto the plate to his left. "Second time I broke it off. We'd both changed too much, or not enough. I hated that she couldn't let me in, and for once I wanted more than I could have – "

"For once?" Duncan asked quickly, watching a brief smile grace Logan's features. "I don't think you get to use that phrase."

"Then she came back to me." He finished, seeming to ignore Duncan's interruption. "And we forgave each other and we actually started talking again. Not just informational shit, real conversations…" Logan's voice trailed off and he didn't have to turn around to see the look of remorse that was tugging Duncan's face.

"And?"

"She found out that while we were 'off' the second time, I got drunk in Aspen and nailed Madison."

There was no warning for the beer that spewed out of Duncan's mouth and onto the table. "You what?" He asked dumbly, running a hand over his head and down his neck. "Damn."

Logan just nodded.

"So what are you doing now?" Duncan wished that he could bring himself to ask more about Veronica. There were certain questions that only someone who knew her as well as Logan did could answer. Questions that she herself had dodged for the last three months. Instead he went the easy route. "Anyone else on your radar?" He asked instead of his easy choice.

"I went out with Parker once or twice." Logan admitted. "Sweet girl if you can get past the fact that there are times when she's a little slow on the uptake." Duncan's smile came out easily enough as he heard the words left unspoken. "On the upside, I haven't been arrested in a while."

They both laughed at that thought. "Well with Keith Mars as Neptune's Sheriff again, I'd hope you stayed out of trouble." Logan's eyebrow rose and Duncan shrugged. "I do still have a few connections left." He joked, leaning back in his chair.

"Are you two bringing the food inside or do I have to come get it?"

Duncan didn't even have to turn around to know what Veronica was standing on the top step of the porch, arms bent at the elbow and hands resting on her hips. Logan however turned and flashed a million dollar smile. "We'll be right in." He laughed, picking up the plate and picking up his empty beer bottles.

* * *

_8:59 pm_

_Friday, June 8th 2007_

"So, college?" Duncan laughed as he watched Veronica dish herself another helping of mashed potatoes as he spoke, looking to Logan as he quirked an eyebrow. "Anything like high school?"

"My Intro to Criminology professor's T.A. killed the dean." Veronica threw out after a bite of potato. "Draw you're own conclusion."

Logan just shook his head. "You're forgetting the campus rapist you threw yourself in the path of." He smiled pointedly.

"You mean the one you got arrested to beat the hell out of?" Veronica's smile matched Logan's to a T and Duncan couldn't help the chuckle. "It was the first time you'd been arrested in months."

"And I haven't been to jail since, have I?" He asked her, taking a sip of his beer and setting the bottle on the table. "In fact, you're the person at this table who's done time most recently." He looked to Duncan and frowned. "Sheriff's little girl was busted for aiding and abetting." He informed his friend with a chuckle. "I've got pictures to prove it."

"Aiding and abetting?" Duncan quirked an eyebrow and frowned. "Not the first time you've been charged with that huh?"

"It wasn't a big deal." Veronica smiled. They both knew that Duncan's mind was going back to New Years the year before. "I had a harder time trying to prove Logan's innocence in the Toombs murder case than I did hiding the fact that I helped you run from Lamb." She kicked Logan under the table and laughed when he flicked her off.

"How'd that happen, by the way?" Duncan was almost embarrassed at the fact that Dick slid him a full beer when he drained the rest of his dry. If it weren't for the fact that Veronica and Mac were both sipping sodas all night he wouldn't have even thought of indulging. "One minute you're being arrested, and the next they're dropping all charges because the first witness drops out and a new one comes forward."

"Thumper made the mistake of kicking Lilly's other boyfriend out of the PCH bike club, and those crazy boys teamed up." Veronica took a sip of her soda and smiled as she swallowed. "By the time Logan got around to asking me to help them out, he and Weevil had almost solved it themselves."

Dick's grin mirrored Veronica's for a completely different reason. "And you should have seen the sweet little piece that Logan scored while trying to clear his name."

Logan downed his beer and shook his head. "No talk of exes at the table." He pressed, nodding to a grateful Veronica. "It'll ruin our appetite."

"Ronnie brought up Lilly!" Dick huffed indignantly, shoving another roll into his mouth.

"Lilly was my sister." Duncan reminded him. "And more than part of the reason we're sitting here right now, so she's allowed."

Mac laughed to herself. 09'er hierarchy once again reared its ugly head. It didn't matter how long Duncan had been out of circulation, he was still the king of all things rich and preppy. "And if we banned talk of **_all _**exes, at least four people at this table won't be allowed to speak to each other." Veronica joined in on the giggling and Logan dropped his napkin to the table and stuck his tongue out at them.

"So you went to high school with Logan and Veronica?" Parker once again leaned into Duncan's personal space and Logan had to hold back a snort. She seemed to completely forget that Wallace and Mac were a part of the whole high school experience as well. Then there was the fact that it was only his luck that a software tycoon's fugitive kidnapper son was more interesting than the son of a statutory rapist / murdering movie star.

There was nervous laughter from Duncan's side of the table and Veronica joined Logan in his snickering. "DK and I've known each other since kindergarten." Logan snagged the last roll and turned to Veronica. "And Ronnie over there was best friends with Lilly Kane for…" He paused, going through the math in his head. "Well as long as I can remember."

Veronica watched as Duncan's eyes clouded over and he lowered his chin almost to his chest. "Then Lilly died, and we all sort of split up." She finished lamely.

"You're forgetting that you and the Donut over there dated for what? Three years?"

"More or less." It was a shame that Veronica knew that Logan was trying to pick a fight. "And you were Lilly's lap dog the second she bought her first push-up bra." A quick bite of her potatoes again and Veronica smiled. "Ah the good old days."

Wallace looked up to Duncan and frowned. "Were they always like this?"

"Sometimes they were mean to each other." Duncan moved to stand and take his plate and glass into the kitchen. "I'm grabbing a slice of the pie in there. Anyone want?"

Veronica's hand was up the second Duncan said pie and he laughed. "Of course. Ice cream too?" He didn't wait for the nod that he knew was coming. "You know, I always thought it odd that you ate like your parents padlocked the fridge and gained no weight – "

"And Lilly ate like a kid sneaking sweets into fat camp and she constantly complained that she needed to lose weight." Duncan shot Logan a look from the counter and the taller boy just shrugged. "I'm not saying I had a problem with her weight here. It was – " He paused. "Very enjoyable – "

"Not at the table, dude!" Duncan threw a spare roll from the counter and Logan looked up just in time for it to beam him in the back of the head. "That's my sister."

"And some of the worst stuff they did was in front of you." Veronica pointed out, turning to Wallace who was watching the banter with an odd smile on his face. It had been a long time since Logan had been able to sit and joke about his relationship with Lilly. Veronica was almost proud at the difference a few hours and a change of location did to him. "Now you see why I don't talk about before." She pointed to Logan and followed the tone of their bantering. "They were a terrible influence on my impressionable mind."

"Says the girl that put a bong in my locker!" Logan accepted the beer that Duncan handed him on his way back to his seat and watched with a laugh when he set the plate of dessert in front of Veronica with flourish. "Or how about the girl that sicced the leader of the PCH bike gang on me."

Wallace shook his head. "To be fair, you took a tire iron to the hood of her car."

"And Weevil wanted to beat the hell out of you long before he remembered who I was." Veronica attacked her pie with zest while Duncan just laughed.

From his seat on the other side of Mac, Piz frowned. These were stories that he had never thought he would be introduced to. Logan seemed to remember that Wallace was an open target and smiled. "And you're only siding with her because she cut you down, Wallace."

Piz leaned forward when Logan pointed. "Cut you down?"

"Not important." Veronica and Wallace looked at each other and cracked a smile.

When one person yawns at the table, it's been a long trip, but when Logan and Duncan yawned simultaneously, it was fate. "I think nineteen hours is a little too long to be awake." Duncan decided after a second, handing his plate to Mac who was standing to head into the kitchen.

"Go on to bed." Veronica laughed, standing after a second and setting Wallace's plate on top of her own. "I'll bunk up with Wallace for the night."

Even as he stood, Duncan shook his head. "Only for tonight." He reasoned, knowing that the second his head hit the mattress he would be out. "We're renegotiating in the morning."

"Leave it to you to use a word like renegotiate when you're dead on your feet." Logan stood as well and laughed. "Who's cleaning up?"

Mac laughed nodded to Parker. "We've got it." She assured the group.

No matter how rude of him it was, Duncan just nodded at everyone. "We'll all still be here in the morning right?" He asked lamely, stopping next to Logan.

"Yeah man." Logan patted him on the back and pointed to the hallway. "As long as you make breakfast, we'll be here."

Wrapping one hand around Veronica's shoulders in a backwards hug, Duncan smiled. "Good."

* * *

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	3. Chapter 2

**Title**: There and Back Again  
**Word** **Count**: 8,354 chapter two only  
**Rating**: PG-14 for language may change in the future  
**Warnings**/**Spoilers**: If you know that Veronica and Logan broke up, Logan asked Parker out and Cassidy Casablancas' role in the second season, you're more than good to go.  
**Summary**: On the second anniversary of Aaron Echolls death, Veronica and Logan decide to finally set their issues to rest, at the Echolls' cabin, with six of their nearest and dearest friends.  
**Official Disclaimer**: All Veronica Mars characters and plots belong to Rob Thomas and the CW. I do not hold stock either the man or the company. Veronica Mars, Logan Echolls, and any other character featured are NOT mine.

* * *

**Chapter Two: **

_8:45 am_

_Saturday, June 9th 2007_

Breakfast had always been Logan's strong suit. It was probably the only meal that he and Duncan would both admit to being able to handle fully. Even before Veronica and the rest of the group were conscious, Duncan had gotten Lilly up, bathed and he had started the French toast and eggs while waiting for the coffee drip. Logan had arrived in the kitchen sometime after Duncan's third mug of coffee to remind him to reset the pot before Veronica got up and start on the pancakes. When Veronica finally came into the kitchen, in a pair of rolled up sweat pants and surfer hoodie that were clearly not her own, she was greeted by a table full of food, a smiling baby and Wallace and Mac, happily munching and reading the paper respectively.

"Now **_this_** is how you say good morning." She joked sweetly, snagging Duncan's coffee mug and taking a long sip. The second the liquid touched her tongue, she grimaced. "Ugh!" She handed him his mug back and turned to Logan. "Tell me there's a mug with some sort of sugar content in the room?"

Although this was usually the point where Logan harassed her for her love of overly sweet coffee he chose to just hand her his own mug in response. "Your welcome." He laughed, offering her a plate and pointing to the table. "The pancakes on the end have cinnamon in them."

"You truly know the way to a girl's heart."

His dirty smirk was all Duncan needed to choke on his coffee. "I tried that." Logan reminded her pointedly. "Enjoyable, but didn't last long."

"Everyone else still asleep?" Veronica chose to ignore Logan's comment as she dropped down at the kitchen table beside Lilly.

"Parker's in the shower." Mac admitted slowly, taking a bite of her toast and folding the business section to drop it on top of the pile near the end. "It's all yours." She collected the paper and handed it to Duncan, who was unsuccessfully trying to wipe his daughter's mouth.

Wallace watched sardonically as Veronica loaded up her plate with Logan's pancakes. "Piz was getting dressed when I came down." He took a sip of his juice shook his head at his friend. "You fasting for the rest of the day?" He asked quickly.

Her hand paused after drenching her pancakes in syrup and Veronica spared a second to stick her tongue out at him and then she coughed as she tried to draw in a breath. "These are just really good." She argued, grabbing her fork and digging in. "What's the plan for the rest of the day?"

"I wanted to get out on the ATVs."

Piz seeming to appear out of nowhere to offer a suggestion wasn't the reason why the room went quiet. Not that he noticed really. He made his way to the fridge and poured himself a glass of juice while Veronica, Logan and Duncan just stared. He grabbed an apple off the counter as he passed, sliding himself down on the bench seat nest to Wallace. "Anyone with me?"

There was a quick cough, as Duncan and Logan shared a look before Duncan finally laughed. "Nice shirt, dude." He said pointedly, nodding to Piz's black and white argyle short sleeved sweater. Another quick chuckle and he turned to Veronica. "Do I want to know?"

"Well you always did give your old stuff to charity." Logan handed his friend a refill on his black coffee and grinned to Piz.

When Veronica opened her mouth to rebuff the statement, Duncan turned his full attention to her and she was forced to close her lips. There really was no actual explanation as to why Piz had gotten attached to the shirt. "So" She looked to Lilly. "One vote for ATVs."

"And yet again Veronica Mars proves her power of misdirection." Logan grabbed a slice of bacon and pointed to her attire. "Although I'm sensing that stealing other people's clothes is going to be a trend in this house."

"It's not like you missed it." She shot back, tugging at the neck of the hoodie. "I've had it for two years."

Duncan stood from his seat and physically put himself between the arguing exes. "And he pulled your hair in seventh grade and you put a bong in his locker two years ago." He held up his hands. "If you two can't get along I'm gonna tie you together."

Even as Logan nodded and turned back to the stove, Veronica bit her lip. "Yes Daddy."

For the second time in two days, Logan's laugh was unadulterated as he doubled over. It was worth cleaning up the mess that his mug made against the tiled floor to see the look that now graced Duncan's features.

* * *

_10:44 am_

_Saturday, June 9th 2007_

She'd traded the sweat pants for a pair of jeans, the hoodie for a tank that she didn't remember buying and an old business shirt of her fathers as a cover and despite the allure of the ATVs Veronica chose to use her first morning at the cabin curled up on the porch swing with a new book and her iPod, just enjoying being away from home. As far as she knew, Logan had taken Wallace, Parker and Piz along when he and Dick collected the four wheelers from the garage. Duncan had decided against the ride, citing that despite the coffee, he wasn't nearly awake enough to go riding sixty miles an hour down the side of a mountain, and Mac wanted to be amazed at the high speed connection that shouldn't have been possible this far from civilization. Which for the moment left her and the book.

Half way through the eighth chapter she could feel the eyes on the back of her head and shifted to look at the intruder. Duncan, in glasses that Veronica still wasn't used to, was leaning against the doorframe, one hand in his pocket and the other still on the door.

"I've had men arrested for less." She told him carefully, pulling her headphones out of her ears. She slid over slightly and propped her feet underneath her. "What's up?"

If there was ever a time for Veronica to be unobservant, Duncan wished that today were it. "Nothing really." He admitted, moving over to the railing in front of her and propping himself up on it. "Just got bored and decided to see what you were up to."

"Where's Lilly?"

"Learning the higher points of HTML and the proper sizing of JPEGs." His smile grew as Veronica put two and two together. "She's decided playing with Mac is better than Daddy."

"Mac has the breakable toy." Veronica nodded and watched Duncan fold and unfold his arms for a second time. "Okay Duncan, what's really up?"

It took him a minute to actually respond to her, crossing his arms once again and smiling at her. "I missed you." He told her sincerely. "And I realized yesterday that I never got the chance to thank you for what you did."

Veronica could have just said that he was welcome and left it at that. But she knew Duncan almost better than anyone else on the planet. And she knew there was something else that he had come out to say. "I used to lie to Lamb all the time. Helping you cross the border was nothing."

"Yeah and I...God this is awkward." Duncan shoved a hand through his hair and chuckled.

"Awkward is being stuck in a car with someone after not speaking to them in a year." She finally set her book down and looked up at her ex. "Awkward is facing your ex-boyfriend after finding out he may be your brother. Awkward is leaving a hotel room after having sex with a guy to find your ex coming out of another room." She laughed as she gestured between them. "Talking to a friend after a year and a half, not so much."

"You saw Logan at the Grande?" Duncan shifted and cocked an eyebrow.

There was another laugh, one of relief this time as Duncan ventured on to an oddly safer topic and Veronica nodded. "He and Kendall Casablancas were the ones we heard going at it in the room next door." She informed him. "But we're not talking about them." She propped her sock clad feet on his knee and tapped him slightly. "What's on your mind Duncan?"

"Are you happy?" He spit it out without much thought.

Veronica couldn't help but to laugh. "Excuse me?"

"Are you happy?" He asked again, this time louder. He could hear his daughter giggling in the living room and held on to the sound. Glad for something other than the look on Veronica's face as she stared at him.

"Am I happy?" She took a breath and shook her head. "I'm as happy as I'm like to get." She decided after a moment. And it was the truth, at least how she saw it. "I can't ask for more than what I've got."

Duncan shook his head. "You could. You should." He slid over to the left and turned her with her feet. When he settled onto the porch swing beside her, her feet was in his lap. "You deserve whatever you want."

"We're not supposed to be this serious." Veronica smiled as she studied his eyes. "This was supposed to be a fun week."

"We are having fun." Duncan was cut off by Lilly's laugh and he pointed to the house. "Listen, that sound means fun."

"What's got you thinking about my happiness?" She pulled her feet underneath herself and focused solely on the man in front of her. He'd grown up, that was for sure, but he was still the same little boy that she had fallen in love with. "Are you happy?" She asked teasingly.

"More than." Duncan said without a moment's hesitation. "My daughter is safe and happy, my best friends are here and - almost the same as ever." When Veronica narrowed her eyes, Duncan shifted uncomfortably. "Logan told me about what happened." He said carefully. "About Madison."

There was nothing that Veronica could really say to that. How was she to respond to an admission like that? "Oh." She said dumbly. "And what exactly did Logan say?"

Her voice was far more tense that he had heard it be in a long time. Duncan watched her shift and didn't try to stop her from moving farther away from him on the seat. "Just the facts." He assured her. The last thing this trip needed was actual tension between Veronica and Logan on top of the obvious sexual tension. "And that you killed Big Bird."

She laughed next, allowing the tension to roll right out of her. She was having a conversation with Duncan. Duncan was nothing else if not safe. "Yeah well, our break-up was inevitable after that." Veronica decided, holding in a few more giggles. She closed her eyes to shut out the memories of that summer. "Logan and I never could last long."

"I wouldn't say that." Duncan tapped her on the leg to get her attention and then smiled. "This may come as a shock to you, but I actually saw how good you were for each other." When Veronica shook her head he nodded. "I'm not supposed to say this, because I love you dearly and he's the bastard that took you away from me, but I'm glad you two got together. Even for a little while."

It wasn't a shock that Duncan was telling her that he saw that she and Logan were a decent couple, Veronica could almost say that she expected that. It was the fact that he had one hand on her knee and his gaze hadn't left her eyes. Or maybe it had something to do with the fact that Duncan had just said he loved her. "Should we be having this conversation?" She asked after a moment, motioning at the space between them with the hand that wasn't still holding the book. "I think we're entering awkward territory."

Duncan laughed and nodded. "Me conceding that Logan just might be the guy for you is awkward?" He asked with mock confusion.

"We have too many issues between us." Veronica pointed out. And neither of them actually needed clarification that she was talking about the man that wasn't sitting there.

"I'm sorry."

"It's not like it's your fault." Veronica touched his hand and smiled. "You didn't cause them."

"Didn't I?" Duncan shifted so he could tear his gaze away from her. "Let's review: I dump you a week before my sister dies, without telling you why, just because Celeste didn't like your mother and she told me, without a shadow of a doubt, that we were related." One finger rose as he was speaking. "Then there was Shelly's party, which has to be the worst thing I have ever done to you." His hand moved to cup her chin and he smiled weakly. "I'm hoping one of these days you'll be able to forgive me for that."

Veronica sighed and nodded. "Consider yourself forgiven, Kane." She let out quickly. "I understand why you did what you did. I didn't want to, not then. But I understand now."

"Well then you know there's only one more thing that I need to take credit for." There was another high pitched laugh from the living room and Duncan pointed. "Exactly how many intimacy issues do you have that don't start with me?"

The more she thought about it, the more she noticed that he was right. And no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't come up with something substantial to say to it. "I'm sorry I accused you of killing Lilly." She blurted out, closing her eyes and praying that he didn't take it as some sort of accusation.

"For a while I thought I did it too." He admitted, scooting closer to her. "And in the grand scheme of things, it doesn't really matter anyway." Duncan kissed the top of her head and then leaned down to her ear. "Stop blaming Logan for what I did."

Her head jerked to the side and Veronica blinked. "I don't" Her voice trailed off even as she bit her lip. "I don't mean to." She said at last. "He's done a lot too."

"And he's paid more than his fair share." Duncan eyed her harshly.

She would have said something profound or snark worthy. Instead, as she opened her mouth, Veronica was cut off by the sound of engines revving. She rested her head on the back of the swing as four ATVs pulled into the front yard. They were all covered in mud, even Parker who had been clinging to Logan's back.

"Then of course, there's that." Veronica nodded to the picture that Logan and his companion made, sliding off the back of their vehicle.

"Is this the part where I point out that there are only four ATVs and he's not your boyfriend?"

Veronica popped him on the arm as he helped her up, both moving to the steps. "I'm not sure, does that come before or after I make your daughter an orphan and no one ever hears from you again?"

Duncan stopped, forcing Veronica to bump into his back. "The scariest part of that statement is that I don't doubt you could."

* * *

_1:15 pm_

_Saturday, June 9th 2007_

Lunch turned out to be a whirlwind of food that made Logan regret not hiring a short order chef. There were two salads, one left over steak, three hamburgers that were thawed and heated on the stove top, three sandwiches, and one bowl of mac and cheese that mostly wound up on the floor. He was almost glad when Duncan had decided that he was going to help Wallace clean up and Parker shoved everyone out the back door to get in the pool. That was, of course, until Dick and Parker requested refreshments. And he wasn't just meaning the fact that they both demanded not to drink alone.

"Hand me the bottle opener." Logan held out his hand and cocked an eye as Dick set three beer cans on the counter and slid the opener across the marble. "And make sure you grab a root beer for Mac."

Dick did as he was told, pulling a chilled root beer out of the fridge because Mac had declined to drink while swimming. He eyed the two glasses Logan just got done filling on the counter and then his gaze rose to his friends. "You got those?" He asked quickly, laughing as Logan popped the tops off the wine cooler in front of him and the beer bottle in rapid succession. He picked up the beer by the neck, balancing it as he added the Cognac glass filled with green liquid to his fingers. He grabbed the other glass in his other hand, frowning down at the wine cooler.

"Shit." Blinking one long time, Logan glanced out the kitchen window to the group on the patio around the pool and then threw a look at Dick. "Can you grab that?" He asked slowly. "And can you keep it in my sight?"

It was almost as if Dick understood exactly what Logan was asking. He dropped a beer can in each pocket of his swim trunks and stacked the remaining cans in one hand. "Sure." He nodded, grabbing the bottle and holding it directly out in front of him. He pushed the old fashioned screen door open with one foot and held it so Logan could pass through. "Drink's are here!"

Dick allowed the door to swing shut behind Logan and hopped down the stairs. He held out the hand that was balancing the root beer on top of the beer can and nodded as Mac took it, moving to the other side of the pool to deliver beer to Wallace and Piz. Instead of following his friend's trajectory, Logan veered to the side of the pool that had the diving board, skipping over it and handing Duncan the Cognac glass that wasn't filled with green liquid.

"Dick." Veronica held up the glass bottle she had just been handed and leveled her eyes at the blonde. "It's open."

At that point, Logan had two options; watch Dick get his ass kicked for something that wasn't his fault, or step up and save him. It was a good thing that Dick dying would mess up the weekend. "I opened it." He admitted, handing Parker the other glass. "Sorry, I didn't want to chance losing the bottle opener out here." Before Veronica could say anything else, Logan turned his body fully to her. "It was directly in front of me until it hit the door, and I made Dick hold it out in front of him until we got out here."

There was half a second as Veronica seemed to contemplate her drink, and then she smiled. "And how do I know that **_you_** didn't put anything in it?"

Logan tilted his head in the opposite direction of hers and returned her smile. "If I wanted you impaired to have my way with you, I would have offered to mix one for you." He winked at her and took a swig of his beer.

"Do me a favor." It was directed at Logan, even though Duncan was smiling at Veronica. When Logan turned, Duncan was staring at his drink. He held it up with a frown. "Take a sip."

"Very funny." Logan dropped onto the wicker chair beside his best friend and shook his head. "I'm never going to live that down am I?"

Duncan took a long drink from his glass and shook his head. "I'm going with no." He laughed as he set his drink beside the baby monitor. Lilly would be up again soon, and he had no doubt that once she realized that all the adults were wet she would want to get into the pool as well. "Although, bright side is that it wasn't the dumbest thing you did that night."

"Can we keep the words 'salt' and 'lick' away from this week?" Veronica asked from her place in the pool. She set her drink off to the side and arched an eyebrow at both her former boyfriends.

From her place on the other side of Duncan, Parker sat up straighter. "Is that all your high school was?" She asked curiously, watching everyone's reactions over the rim of her drink. "Parties and blackmail?"

Mac seemed to contemplate it for a minute, looking from Dick and Wallace at the far end of the deep end to Logan and Duncan up on dry land. "That's not all we did." She protested sharply. "We went to club meetings and school carnivals, and we organized dances and played sports." She pointed over to Wallace, hoping that he would help her out.

"We also started fist fights in club meetings." Logan nodded to Duncan, and then smiled apologetically at Mac.

"And seduced naive co-eds at school carnivals." Veronica offered up with a patented 'behave' look at Logan.

"And Logan showed up pant-less to the last dance I organized." Duncan smiled when Parker's eyes glazed as she tried to imagine it. "Risky Business anyone?"

There was a pause as Parker laughed and Wallace raised his hand. "I played sports." He offered lamely, hoping that no one thought to mention the time when he thought it would be a good idea to kidnap the rival schools mascot, or the time when he popped positive on a drug test. "And to be fair, Veronica did most of the blackmailing."

Parker nodded. "I stand corrected." She lifted her drink above her head as she stood, desperate not to end up wearing it.

"At least you look good while doing it." Logan countered, winking at Parker as the other blonde in the pool bit her lip.

"Hey Logan?" Duncan waited until he had his friend's attention before shaking his head. "You're an idiot." Everyone would have been surprised to know that Logan seemed to understand exactly what Duncan meant.

* * *

_3:02 pm_

_Saturday, June 9th 2007_

"Okay, so I'm an idiot."

Logan dropped the cards in his hand onto the wicker table and stole a glance at the pool while Wallace shuffled the cards. Mac and Veronica had Lilly in the pool, her swimsuit complete with a little flowery hat to keep the sun off her face, and the child was wasting no time splashing anything her arms could reach. Parker was laying on her stomach on an armless lounger, her bikini straps untied and her sunglasses blocking the view of her eyes. Piz was asleep on the porch, a copy of _Gates of Fire_ held loosely in one hand.

Dick took another swig of his beer and shook his head. "Duh." He finished off the bottle and set it on the ground next to the other two. He took the cards that Wallace dealt him and opened the water bottle that Duncan had brought out for him when Lilly had woken up. "We knew this."

He couldn't help the laughter. Honestly Duncan had tried. But the fact that Dick Casablancas could call anyone an idiot was too funny not to laugh at. "When did you reach this revelation?" He asked after scarfing down a handful of Pringles.

"Known it for a while actually." Logan sorted his cards and studied his hand. The last time he had been this unlucky at cards had been the Christmas Weevil had been invited to the game. He dropped two on the table and looked up to Wallace. "Two."

"Three." Duncan waved at his daughter and laughed. "So what are you going to do about it?"

Logan shook his head. "Nothing."

There was another laugh as Wallace dealt out the rest of the cards and checked his own hand. "That sounds productive."

"This table is full of people I don't want giving me advice." Logan took a swig of his water and leveled the bottle at Duncan. "You're at the top of the list."

"I would think that Wallace and I would be the two people you **_would_** want." He sorted his own hand and took a few more chips out of the basket. "Being as close as we are."

"You're both practically her brother." Logan's smirk was back full force now.

Duncan sat there for a moment, just watching his friend. "Do we have another deck?" He asked after a second, turning back to his cards. When Wallace nodded Duncan set his hand down on the table. "Good."

His next move was one that Logan had braced for but wasn't truly prepared. Instead of pulling him out of his chair, as had been expected, Duncan took the chair with them as he grabbed Logan's shoulder and pulled him in the direction of the pool. Wallace was up and away from the table in an instant, watching somewhat helplessly as Duncan, Logan and the wicker chair went over the side of the pool and into the water. Both men surfaced, Logan pulling at the sleeveless shirt he was wearing, and Duncan treading water easily.

That was until Veronica's hand collided with the back of his head.

"What the hell!" Duncan spun and laughed as he realized how close he and Logan had landed to the middle of the pool. He glanced sheepishly at the fuming blonde and then over at his daughter, who was currently laughing and clapping from the safety of Mac's arms. "Sorry?" He offered lamely, rolling his shoulders.

"Sorry?!" Veronica couldn't help but smile at the look on his face. And then she realized just how useless her lecture would be now. "You could have killed yourselves, and all you have to say is sorry?"

The smile hadn't left Logan's face, even as he pulled the soaked material over his head and threw it at dry land. "I deserved it." He cast a look at Duncan and then up to the people surrounding the pool. Parker was sitting up now, readjusting her top and Dick and Wallace both seemed unable to comprehend the fact that they were still alive. "Sorry man."

"Apology accepted." Duncan ducked Veronica's gaze and headed to the shallow end, his eyes firmly on his daughter.

"Oh no." Veronica intercepted him and pointed at his khaki pants and the button down shirt that was almost inside out. "Both of you inside now." When Logan opened his mouth to protest, Veronica glared at him. "You're both soaked, if you want to play in the pool go put your trunks back on."

Logan knew a losing argument when he saw one, so he merely saluted Veronica and swam to the side of the pool, hoisting himself out of the water by the edge. Duncan was hot on his heels, muttering about Veronica and mothers as he went. He laughed and slammed the door, watching with a sadistic smirk as Piz, who had been asleep during the whole chair incident, toppled off of his own.

* * *

"What the hell was that about?" With the two troublemakers inside and hopefully not beating the crap out of each other, Veronica was free to glare at the other two that were at the table.

Wallace shrugged. "What was what about?" He asked cautiously, moving to pick up the cards that Logan had dropped on the patio. His best friend coughed and he turned to watch her point at the wicker chair that was now resting upside down at the bottom of the pool. "Guy thing?" He shrugged hopefully.

"Try again?" Veronica turned her gaze to Dick.

There was a moment when Wallace actually thought Dick might cave, throwing the information out to try to hurt rather than to enlighten. Instead Dick just collected his water bottle from the table and took a swig. "Guy thing." He imitated Wallace's shrug and took another sip.

Parker slid off the lounger and into the pool, dunking herself in attempt to cool off. "What just happened here?" She asked Mac, who was still holding Lilly against her chest.

"I don't think I want to know." The shorter girl replied, letting her grip of Lilly go slightly so the girl could splash around a little in the water.

Wallace picked up a bottle that had been knocked over in the scuffle and added it to the top of the table. "It was nothing." He assured the girls, glancing at Dick and amazed to see that the man nodded.

* * *

"That was fun." Logan pulled out two pairs of pants from the dresser and flung one at the man heading into the bathroom behind him. "I don't think I've ever appreciated the fact that I can swim more in my life." Duncan murmured a quick 'sorry' on his way past and Logan laughed. "No, seriously, that was fun."

"Anyone ever told you that your definition of 'fun' is kinda twisted?" He left the door open a crack so neither of them had to shout. Stripping off his soaked shorts, he tossed them into the sink with his boxers and pulled on a dry set.

Logan shrugged. "And my version of foreplay involves a tire iron." Logan threw his wet clothes at the door after he had pulled jeans over his boxers. "I'm the son of Aaron Echolls, what do you expect?"

The door opened and Duncan chucked Logan's things into the sink with his own. They could deal with it later. "I can't believe you're just going to do nothing."

The conversation shift made Logan nervous, especially since they were alone inside. Duncan could say whatever he wanted to without an audience. "There's nothing to do." He ran a hand through his hair and pulled a green t-shirt out of the drawer before heading to the bed. "Ronnie and I have tried too many times, and we've failed just as many." He practically shoved his arms into the sleeves and glared at the man who was standing on the other side of the room with his arms crossed. "Neither one of us want to go through that again."

"Why not?" Duncan put himself physically in between Logan and the door.

"Why?" The taller man countered, shifting on the balls of his feet.

"Because you love her." Duncan's eyes locked on Logan's and both men shifted.

He wasn't sure what point Duncan was trying to make, and he wasn't just going to hand everything over. "So do you." He spat, pushing him out of the way and heading down the stairs.

Duncan swore as he hurried to catch up to his friend. "And I have an eighteen month old daughter and am currently living in Australia to avoid **_jail time_**." Duncan caught him on the stairs, spinning Logan around and forcing him to look at him. "How stupid are you Logan?"

"You get one warning, DK. This is not something that you want to get in the middle of." Logan pulled his arm away and took a step down. He turned around again and started down the stairs. "Sometimes something gets broken and it can't be fixed. And I got tired of fighting with her about what she wants."

"She's not Lilly!" Duncan slumped down onto the stairs and shook his head.

* * *

_6:57 pm_

_Saturday, June 9th 2007_

Dinner took a total of twenty minutes, more for the fact that the only people holding up a conversation were Mac, Piz and Parker. Wallace attempted to open the floor to discussion, but was shot down every time. Dick took his dinner and hid in his room and Veronica kept glancing back and forth at the other two as they proceeded to ignore each other throughout the meal. When it was time to clear the table, Mac and Veronica quickly dispatched with the dishes, leaving them in the sink, and shooed Piz and Wallace out of the room, the later grabbing the baby on the way. The last thing they needed was her to pick up any new words.

"The person who doesn't answer my question honestly gets to do the dishes." She sat herself at the foot of the table, smiling the best she could down at her ex-boyfriends. When neither one looked up, she sighed. "You two were fine earlier, what happened?"

Logan was to his feet in no time, grabbing his beer bottle. "I've got dishes." He exclaimed, false cheer spreading to his smile.

Veronica didn't even bother to say anything to Duncan as she followed Logan out. "What happened?" She asked him again, sliding past Parker and a Monopoly board on its way to the living room.

"Don't worry about it." Logan turned on the tap and opened the door to the dishwasher.

"You and Duncan go from goofing around and knocking each other in the pool to not even acknowledging the other's presence when you're sitting two feet apart." Veronica grabbed the rag out of his hand and tilted her head. "I'm not going to not worry about it."

"It's fine Ronnie." Logan finally faced her, running a hand over her hair. "We disagreed, we're working through it. Isn't that what this week is about?"

Veronica nodded, biting her lip and looking to the floor. "Tell me it wasn't about me?" She asked quietly.

For a moment, Logan almost didn't hear her. He definitely wished he hadn't that was for sure. "I promised not to lie to you this week." He took the dish rag out of her hands and turned back to the pile in the sink. "Why don't you go see if anyone wants dessert?"

Ten minutes later they were all sprawled throughout the den, drinks in hand as Piz toyed with the CD player. Duncan and Lilly had claimed the oversized leather armchair, Lilly bouncing happy on her father's lap and carrying on her own conversation with her stuffed bear. Parker and Mac were by the loveseat, the brunette lying sideways across it while the blonde sat on the floor by her feet. Wallace was on the floor next to the coffee table, his head beside the arm of the couch that Veronica had curled herself into while Logan took over the rest. Dick was on the other side of the coffee table with a mountain of oversized pillows.

"Duncan. Truth or Dare?"

"I love games that start out with those options." Duncan took a swig of his water and toyed with Lilly's hair for a second. "Truth." He decided, turning to fully look over to Parker.

The blonde frowned, and then turned to Mac as if she were going to be able to pull a question out of her head just by staring at the back of it. "Uh" She glanced over at Logan and Veronica. "Finish this sentence: My first time was with – "

"My first time was with Shelly Pomroy." Duncan turned his face away from his daughter's and bit his lip. Veronica's mouth dropped open and Dick and Logan both started clapping. "It was six weeks after the funeral and I took the advice of a friend of mine and got drunk." He blushed and shook his head as Logan nodded. "The only reason I know we did something was because she was bragging about it at school the next week."

Logan kept clapping, throwing a look over to Veronica and nodding carefully. "Wasn't the first time you orchestrated debauchery?" Parker laughed as she followed Veronica's gaze to Logan and her eyebrows rose.

"Hell no." Logan grabbed his beer off the coffee table and laughed. "Everyone should be glad I hooked him up with Shelly. Dickie over there wanted him to get it on with Caitlin Ford."

"Didn't you date Caitlin?"

Veronica smiled at Mac's comment and turned to her ex. "Didn't Caitlin cheat on you with Chardo Navarro?" She countered, piercing her lips and taking a sip of her own drink.

"See what I saved you from?" Logan looked over to Duncan once more, his eye pleading with him to keep the game going and save him from Veronica's questions.

"Wallace? Truth or Dare?"

He leaned back, looking from his best friend to the ex that had asked the question. "Dare." He decided, leaning forward to wrap his elbows around his knees. "And please make it something I don't have to get up to do."

Duncan laughed. "You asked for it." He spared a look to Veronica and sighed. "I dare you to kiss Veronica."

The entire room groaned.

"Could you be any more childish?" Piz and Parker seemed to exclaim at once as Wallace turned himself around to face his intended victim.

"It's either Ronnie or Dick." Duncan decided. "Take you're pick."

"Poetic." Wallace dead panned, leaning forward to place a chaste kiss on Veronica's lips. They broke apart almost instantly, both going for their drinks. "I'm gonna need something stronger if we're gonna keep kissing people." He decided.

"You and me both brother." Veronica finished off her water bottle and handed it to her friend to set on the coffee table. Without a thought, she reached over and took the fresh one that Logan was holding out to her. It had seemed odd at the time that Logan suggested bringing a cooler down to the den, but she was now glad he had. "It's your turn Wallace."

He thought about it for a moment and then turned to face the love seat. "Mackenzie. Truth or dare?"

"Truth." Mac said almost instantly, pulling her feet off of the edge of the couch.

"How much money did you make off those purity tests?"

"As much as I had planned." She said after a moment, realizing that she had just confessed to masterminding the whole purity test debacle. "More than enough for my car." Mac closed her eyes against the laughing that had started when she opened her mouth and just let it roll off of her. In the end, she had helped Veronica get the people who had cheated the system, it was penance enough. "What was your score?" She asked Wallace.

"Was it higher than a 14?" Logan deserved the smack to the leg that he got and then he pointed to the floor. "Thank Dick for announcing it to the world." He threw out, pulling his leg away from the blonde.

"Thanks Dick."

The blonde on the floor just shrugged.

"Mr. Echolls?" Mac's voice ran sweet as she turned on her friends' most recent ex-boyfriend.

"Ah hell, why don't we just eliminate the Dare and just ask each other embarrassing questions all night?" Parker nodded, and Veronica shrugged, and it was good enough for Mac.

"What did you think of Veronica the first time you saw her?"

Duncan set his daughter on the floor and stared open mouthed at Mac while Logan closed his eyes. "Déjà vu." He whispered, slightly off kilter.

"Can he get another question?" Veronica saw Parker gear up to complain and shook her head at her. "Mac?"

"Uh, sure." Mac watched Logan's eyes open for a brief moment and shrugged. "Most awkward encounter after sex?"

There was a laugh as Logan turned to Veronica and smiled, both in thanks and amusement. He wondered if Veronica had told Mac and Wallace about their encounter at the Grande. "It was the start of senior year, and I had a nice older lady friend." He paused and shared a look with Dick. "And on my way out I ran into someone coming out of the room next door."

"That's it?" Parker sat up and glared at Logan. "That's the embarrassing thing? You ran into someone?"

Logan sighed. "I ran into Ronnie here." He blew out another breath and looked over at Duncan. "It seems she and Duncan had just gotten finished with a little escapade of their own." He could almost swear he heard crickets chirping outside. "So yes, that has to be the most awkward encounter after sex. Followed very closely by the time a little blonde detective from high school came barging into my room shortly after Kendall left to tell me that I was a bad bad boy for sleeping with a married woman. DK? You never answered my question that night. Was it in the rotation?"

"Oh My God!" Veronica's face wasn't the only red one in the room as she began giggling to the point of falling into Wallace's lap. "Logan!"

"Inquiring minds want to know." Logan ran a hand through his hair and smirked.

"**_No_**." Duncan said firmly. "Never."

"It's a shame." He looked to Veronica as his smirk got bigger. "It spent quite a while in mine."

Duncan shook his head, trying desperately to get the vision of his sister and his ex-girlfriend's kiss from years before out of his head. "Dick?" He turned to the man on the floor closest to him and smiled. "Why are you here?"

There was a pause as Dick tried to understand the question. "I thought you were the smart one, dude. I was born." He pulled himself into a sitting position and threw a look around the room. Then his face dropped and he downed the rest of his beer. "We're exorcizing demons this weekend." He said softly, and Veronica had to strain to hear him. "I've got a few of my own." He and Mac shared a look and when she looked away, he frowned. "Ghost World. One moment in high school you wish you could forget?"

"Graduation. Piz, best rock band of all time?"

The way she brushed over the question gave Dick pause. He knew what happened the night of Graduation just as well as anyone. Maybe he understood a little more than most since it was he that was right beside the brunette when she was asked to give the police her initial statement. Logan and Veronica were dealing with Lamb about his little brother's jump, more the former than the latter, since she was barely coherent at best. Then again, he supposed, if he were to find out that his rapist had murdered a bus full of his classmates before blowing his father up, he wouldn't be too talkative either. Mac hadn't answered more than she was asked, and in the end she composed herself just as long as it took the get the questions answered and then get loaded up into Logan's SUV.

A part of him still couldn't get over the fact that Cassidy hadn't said anything to him. It wasn't like that was something he would have made fun of his brother for. Granted Dick wasn't known for being the most sensitive person on the planet, but what happened to Beav – Cassidy, all those years ago wasn't his fault, and he would have helped him if he could.

"Dick?"

His eyes snapped open, and he shook his head in Logan's direction. "Yeah?"

"Worst idea ever?" Logan repeated, shifting to throw his feet onto the coffee table to let Veronica have most of the couch.

He knew what he wanted to say. Dick wished that he actually had the guts to say it. After all he had a laundry list to choose from. Nicknaming his little brother Beaver was probably on there somewhere. Then there were all the times that he belittled him. All the times that he never paid attention to him. Most recently there was the incident with the GHB that went awry. He and Logan had talked about that one, then immediately swore that Veronica would never find out. Him leaving her in a room with Cassidy was probably pretty high up there.

"Shelly's party." He said at last, looking up from his beer bottle and cracking an odd smile. "Screwdrivers with orange soda are hell on the stomach, man."

The room laughed and he took another swig, holding it on his tongue as he chanced a look at Veronica. When she nodded, so did he.

It was one less thing on his list.

* * *

_2:34 am_

_Sunday, June 10th 2007_

It's almost three in the morning when Logan realizes that no one bothered to pull him off of the couch and send him up to his own bed. It didn't bother him as much as it probably should have. After all, he was still wearing all of his own clothes, and as far as he could tell, Veronica hadn't written on him. His eyes opened slowly, and there was a second when he still wasn't sure why he woke to begin with. Then he heard a thud coming from the floor above him and he sighed into the arm resting on his head. He'd been in his father's cabin for less than three days, and he hadn't slept this weakly since they buried the bastard.

Reluctantly he willed himself to his feet, ran a hand over his face and decided that as long as someone else was awake he wouldn't feel too guilty about finishing off the rest of the homemade pizza that Parker had orchestrated for dinner.

He felt an odd sense of pride when he realized that he made it up the stairs and to the kitchen corridor without any light. Then he shook it off when he saw the back door open. He made it to the fridge before he noticed that he wasn't alone in the room.

"Ronica ate the last slice before bed." At Logan's curse, Duncan held out the plate of nachos in front of him. "That's what I thought too." He grinned.

Logan pulled a cup out of the cupboard and grabbed the orange juice out of the fridge. He held up the carton and when Duncan shook his head he shrugged, filled his glass and replaced the carton. "You're up late."

"We're not dragging this out." Duncan took a breath and a chip off the plate and stared at his friend. If he had to wake the whole house in order to get Logan to talk to him then he would. Yeah, Dick would be pissed and Piz would definitely be confused, but Logan would have to listen.

"Dragging what out?" Logan ran a hand over his face as he gulped his juice, setting himself on one of the bar stools at the counter. "If it's that thing with Ronnie then – "

"You didn't take Veronica from me."

There were no words to describe how confused Logan felt. One minute he was about to tell Duncan that they should just drop it, and the next – nothing. Maybe he was just too tired to think about the connection. He set his glass on the counter and stared at his friend. "I didn't." He said after a while, not even thinking to drop the staring contest that he was having with the top of Duncan's head.

"And the summer before senior year, I didn't take her from you."

Duncan had yet to look up at him, and that scared Logan slightly. He had notice over the course of their friendship that a loud Duncan was the safe Duncan. Too many unexplainable things happened when he got too quiet. The attack on Jake had seemed to come from quiet anger.

Instead of vocalizing his agreement, Logan settled on nodding. He knew that it was true. He had been stupid. Lighting swimming pools on fire with Dick and Cassidy definitely wasn't the smartest thing he could have done during the whole murder situation. Veronica had even asked him to stop, before she let him go. He had made his bed that summer, and although he hated what it had come to, he had understood in the end. After two more break-ups, and God only knew how many arguments.

He had thought it all out; the speech and the final agreement. Duncan had meticulously thought of every aspect of this conversation with his best friend and now he could find a word. "We survived Lilly." He started, biting his lip and shaking his head. "We got past drunken fights, and salt licks, and who stole whose G.I. Joe." His head finally came up and he smiled. "You were there for me when I was being over medicated and I thought I'd helped you when your Mom"

Logan nodded, dropping his eyes to his laps. His fingers were pulling the sleeves of his shirt over his knuckles and he couldn't fight the smile. "You did." He whispered.

"We've been best friends for as long as I can remember, and we can't seem to get past **_one_** girl." Duncan made a noise from the back of his throat, somewhere between a cough and a snort, and before he knew it, he was laughing. "Lilly would have laughed her ass off about this." He said at last.

At last, Logan snorted too, and shook his head. "What do you mean 'would have?'" He asked once he found his voice. "She probably saw this coming from a mile away. Sadistic bitch."

"What are we doing?" Duncan shook his head and finally met Logan's eyes. "We're fighting over something that wasn't ours to begin with."

"She'd kill us both if we tried to claim her anyway." Logan settled himself more comfortable on the stool and shook his head. There was still one question that was "Why are you so hell bent on setting us up?"


	4. Chapter 3

**Title**: There and Back Again  
**Word** **Count**: 8,704 chapter three only  
**Rating**: PG-14 for language may change in the future  
**Warnings**/**Spoilers**: If you know that Veronica and Logan broke up, Logan asked Parker out and Cassidy Casablancas' role in the second season, you're more than good to go.  
**Summary**: On the second anniversary of Aaron Echolls death, Veronica and Logan decide to finally set their issues to rest, at the Echolls' cabin, with six of their nearest and dearest friends.  
**Official Disclaimer**: All Veronica Mars characters and plots belong to Rob Thomas and the CW. I do not hold stock either the man or the company. Veronica Mars, Logan Echolls, and any other character featured are NOT mine.

* * *

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**Chapter Three: **

_8:21 am  
Sunday, June 10th, 2007_

"Damn it, Lilly!"

The in-suite bathroom door was open, giving Duncan a not so welcome view of his best friend's naked rear end as his daughter attempted to hide behind the toilet. There was really nothing that Duncan could do but laugh, which didn't seem to make Logan any happier. He had snatched a towel off of the top of the counter, knotting it around his waist before bending to pick the giggling blonde off of the bathroom floor. When she was deposited safely on the bed, Logan moved back to the bathroom, slamming the door and flipping the lock.

"The only word she understood was 'Lilly.'" Duncan called out to the bathroom door. He ran a hand through his hair and leaned back onto the bed, settling his daughter on his stomach. "And the only thing yelling at her did was probably wake up Wallace."

There was a grunt from the other side of the door before it opened again, just as Logan finished buttoning his jeans. "His lazy ass sleeps too much anyway." Logan decided, rubbing the top of his head and face with his towel. "And it made me feel better." Lilly giggled when his towel landed right next to her on the bed and Logan cracked a smile. "You should have just kept her away from the damn bathroom."

"Of course, because I really thought that my eighteen month old daughter would be interested in you walking the dog in the shower." Duncan set the book he'd been thumbing through most of the morning onto the bed next to him and glared at his friend. "When did you start not automatically locking the bathroom door anyway?"

Logan stopped. For a moment he even considered trying to get away with not acknowledging the question at all. No matter how many understanding conversations they had in their lifetime, Logan couldn't there ever being a time when he could easily explain that leaving the bathroom door unlocked had become commonplace when a certain blonde detective that they both had dated had started to join him in the shower. His gaze ran from Duncan's inquisitive one to the bright green curious eyes there were currently trying to read him. Or at least that was his interpretation of the way Lilly had cocked her head to the side, pulling her lip into her mouth in a way that he had only seen her namesake do.

"I just did." He spat, grabbing for the old brown tee that was resting on the back of one of the chairs. He slid it over his shoulders and pulled it tight against his chest. "And stop looking at me like that."

Lilly had slid off of the bed now, wandering over to the pile of toys that her father had let her dump onto the floor last night. Logan had tried to forbid it. After all, wasn't he the one that was going to wind up on his ass after tripping on one, but Duncan had been persistent, picking Lilly up and allowing her to use the famed 'puppy dog eyes' to get her way. Not finding a toy to play with, she wandered back over to the chair. Her head tilted in the other direction as Logan dropped himself into the chair behind him, and she waited until he seemed comfortable before dropping her head onto his knee.

"You just did?" Duncan watched his best friend absently move his knee so Lilly could crawl into his lap and smiled. "Should I take this question downstairs?"

"Yeah, because waking Ronnie up to ask her how often she noticed me locking the bathroom door is really a good idea." Logan toyed with Lilly's hair and she fixed her gaze to his necklace, wrapping one chubby hand around it.

"When did you start doing that?"

Logan quirked an eyebrow and shook his head at the bed. "Start doing what?"

"Calling her Ronnie?"

"She's always been Ronnie." He readjusted Lilly on his lap and glanced away. "Always."

Duncan closed his eyes and shifted the pillow behind his head. "Not always." He said evenly. "After Lilly died she was only Ronnie when she was in front of you. Something to taunt her with. Then, after you two broke up – "

"After we broke up I was screwing Kendall Casablancas and drinking like a fish. I didn't particularly like thinking about her at all." He leaned back in the chair just enough to readjust the child in his lap. Lilly bounced happily at the fact that he was more or less turning his entire attention on her. He brushed her hair away from her face before sliding a hand under her bottom and pulling her up with him. "You're turn in the shower." He readjusted the child and headed for the door. "'Lil and I are going to forage for food."

"Don't teach her any new words while you're down there."

Logan shrugged as he started to pull the door shut behind him. "I make no promises."

* * *

_9:15 am__  
Sunday, June 10th 2007_

What had started out as a cold cereal and fruit affair for Logan had turned into another breakfast free for all. Lilly had been fed first, with Logan's original plan, but when he sat down to his own bowl of frosted flakes, he couldn't help but want something with them. Which is how Mac found him, Lilly's high chair pulled up to the bar, as he danced around the open space in front of the stove.

"At least you're fully clothed this time." She laughed, pulling a banana out of the fruit bowl and grabbing for a coffee mug. She held the carafe in one hand as she shared some of her banana with Lilly and then took a sip of her drink. "At least for Lilly's sake."

"So if she weren't here, you'd prefer me in my underwear?" Logan's eyes twinkled as he handed her a plate of eggs and dropped a few pieces of green pepper on top. Mac's giggle was answer enough and he nodded to one of the barstools beside Lilly. "You want pancakes or something?" He asked, nodding to the stove.

Shaking her head, Mac grabbed a fork from the counter top. "This'll be enough." She decided. In truth Mac probably hadn't eaten this well in the morning since visiting her parents one Saturday after spring break. Not that she was going to tell Logan that. His ego was large enough already. "Do you know what classes you're taking next semester?"

Logan's laugh could probably have been heard throughout the house. "We're up at a multimillion dollar cabin for a week away from all things Neptune and you want to talk about schedules?" He asked incredulously, taking Lilly's sippy cup from her to refill. "How's Bronson?"

The shy smile that spread over Mac's features normally would be answer enough. "He's good." She told him seriously, she knew that he was just waiting for the chance to point out that she'd been talking to him online for most of the trip already. "He's with his parents in Italy." She reminded him. "They do it every year."

"We should start doing this every year." Logan's head tilted slightly as something thumped on the stairs above them and he smiled. "Maybe Bronson can come with us next time."

"Will we still be harboring fugitives?" At Logan's shrug Mac almost laughed. "It's hard to believe this is our life." She half-whispered.

"You maybe." He said after a moment, finally taking a bite from his own plate. "I always figured one way or another my life would be this fucked up."

"Don't cuss around the baby." Parker breezed into the room with less than her usual energy, grabbing for a glass and the juice from the fridge. She hadn't been in the shower yet, which led Logan to believe that someone was already in it.

"Don't bitch before you've had coffee." Was his response, pouring her a mug to alternate with her juice. There's definitely something to be said about the fact that he knows how every woman sleeping under the roof takes their morning caffeine fix. Mac took it black, in order to get the most out of it. Her second mug would have to have milk in it, trying to negate the bitter taste. Parker drowned hers in sugar, which, the more Logan thinks about it reflected her usual mood. He'd been happy and bouncy too if he had equal parts sugar and caffeine in his drink. Then there was the concoction he was currently glaring into. The one that Veronica would steal the second she realized that more than two people were awake in the house. It was equal parts of all three ingredients, shown to him when he was thirteen by a girl that knew a little too much about coffee and sugar side affects. He laughs about it now, earning a strange glare from the ex-girlfriend that just scooted past him to get to another fork. "Sleep well?" He smiled over at Mac as they both let Parker direct the conversation.

"Perfect." She laughed, dropping down at the table. "Although I'm still not understanding why there's a room big enough for two full beds in this place."

Logan laughed again, pretending to watch Lilly shove a piece of banana into her mouth without breaking up her little conversation with the food. He and Parker had never really talked about his dad. That was one of the things that made him like her so much. She really could care less about the fact that he was the son of Aaron Echolls and Lynn Lester. On the flip side, she never fully understood why he kept insisting that his father was a sadistic son of a bitch that deserved what he got. "It's a money thing." He concluded, mostly to himself.

"You should see the Kane cabin." Duncan announced his presence the only way he knew how, butting into other people's conversations. He kissed his daughter on the top of the head, careful to avoid her wonderful mush sculpture that she still held pieces of in her hands and nodded to Mac. "Lilly's bathroom was twice the size of the master. She said that she had to have enough room to share with her friends."

"Even though the only friend ever allowed in there was Ronnie." Logan poured Duncan's coffee for him and handed it over Mac's head. "I think I saw the inside once." Duncan laughed and set himself down at the table. He picked the paper out of the in bowl in the center and opened it up. There was a grunt from the living room side of the kitchen and Logan laughed at the picture Wallace made, stumbling through the kitchen on his way to the fridge. "Wallace!" Logan moved to the stove again, putting together a plate and setting it on the counter for the younger man. "I didn't expect you to be up this early."

Wallace grunted again and pulled the milk out of the fridge as Mac handed him a coffee mug. "Logan!" He mock shrilled, planting a smile on his face for a good second. "The bastard next door to me couldn't keep the noise down."

"Damn." Logan frowned and took a sip of his coffee. "I'll call down to the Henderson's and ask them to keep it down for you."

Duncan's laugh forced Logan to smile and Wallace flipped him off. "You do that." He dead panned.

"Veronica."

The blonde stopped at the foot of the stairs and laughed when Piz hurtled himself down them. It seemed that awkward or not, this trip was a good idea for everyone. Even Dick seemed a little more human three hundred miles from Neptune. She shook that thought from her head as she pulled her hair up into a ponytail and readjusted her tank top. "Morning Piz." She said cheerfully, watching him attempt to readjust his own clothes. At least this morning he wasn't in anything that may or may not have come from Duncan's closet.

"I uh…" He ran a hand over his hair and bit his lip. "I was wondering?"

Veronica took a step closer to the kitchen and stopped, watching Piz fidget with the front of his shirt. They had known each other for a little less than a year, and it was safe to say that his shy bumbling nature around her hadn't gotten any better. If anything it only served to annoy her slightly. "Wondering?" She prompted, turning to lean against the wall.

"Do you think we could go for a walk later?" He asked in a rush. "I mean you've been here before, so you know the paths, and I was hoping you could show me around. Tell me a few stories." If it hadn't been for her own tendency to ramble on, Veronica might not have caught a thing he had just said. "That is if you don't mind."

Dick picked that moment to round the corner behind them, sliding up and wrapping his arm around Veronica's shoulders. "She promised me we could take a walk last night, dude." He said after a second, smiling down at Piz. Whether it was joy in Wallace's roommate's dejection or Veronica's confusion anyone could guess. "Maybe tomorrow."

Veronica turned to watch Dick enter the kitchen. "I'm sorry Piz." She said offhandedly, still trying to figure out what kind of game Dick was playing, and if he was the only one. "Maybe tomorrow."

"Say 'thank you Dick.'" Dick snagged a mini bottle of Sunny D out of the fridge and smiled at his best friend.

Logan shook his head. "Thank you Dick." He said slowly. Then he stopped. "What am I thanking you for?" He asked quickly.

Dick just shrugged. "You just are."

His coffee mug was pulled from his hand before Logan could respond to Dick, or acknowledge that Veronica and Piz had entered the room. "Dick wants to talk to me later." She told him as she stole a piece of bacon from his plate and moved to sit next to Duncan. "And Wallace, you and I need a little BFF time." Her frustrated grin was all it took for Logan to fully understand what Dick had done.

"What's the matter, Ronnie?" Logan poured himself another mug of coffee and filled a plate for Veronica. He still wasn't sure why he had been chosen as chef and waiter. "Too much togetherness?"

"You're awfully chipper for someone who was up with Duncan until four." She pointedly took a sip of her drink and threw a look at the Kane heir.

Duncan shifted nervously while Logan kept his smile firmly in place. "And you're rather informed for a person who sleeps like the dead." He deposited the plate in front of her and shook his head at Duncan. The less they told Veronica about last night's conversation the better they all were. She wouldn't truly appreciate the lengths they had gone that night anyway. "Do I have to schedule a little one on one time with you too? Maybe we should just sweep the place for bugs?"

Veronica's mouth opened to reply.

"Damn!"

Everyone in the room shifted their heads in the direction of the high chair, whose occupant was now turned more than slightly around to survey everyone. Lilly was covered; nearly head to toe in bananas and Cheerios, and she was holding her cup above her head and repeated. "Damn!"

Logan was the first to start laughing. He doubled over in front of Duncan, who was caught somewhere between disbelief and irritation. Mac had set her drink down by now, trying her hardest not to smile, and Dick was almost immediately in front of her on the other side of the counter, trying to decide if a high five for the little girl would be out of line.

Finally Duncan stood, handing the paper off to Wallace and moving to the high chair. "I think it's time for your bath, baby girl." He said calmly, pulling one of the dish towels off of the counter to wipe her hands before he wrapped it around her waist to cover the mess and lifting her out of the chair. He spared a glare to Logan and then shook his head.

"Hey DK?" Logan caught his attention and kissed Lilly's forehead. "Just out of curiosity, what was her first word?"

Duncan laughed, as if recalling something that happened too far in the past. "Lilly." He said with a chuckle, looking past Logan's shoulder to his ex-girlfriend, sharing a look.

* * *

_11:58 am  
Sunday, June 10th 2007_

Veronica locked arms with her best female friend and allowed herself to be pulled down the path to the lake that Parker had found when they were ATV riding. "So Dick wants to talk." Parker and Piz were happily chatting with Wallace further up the trail and Logan and Duncan were supposed to be behind them somewhere after they finished whatever it was that they were doing when the idea had been broached. The subject of discussion was almost ecstatic when they had relented and allowed him to ride one of the four wheelers down to the pond.

"Better you than me." Mac said strongly, pulling her jean jacket closer to her body. Veronica noticed the shift in her mood and thankfully didn't mention it.

She did, however, feel the need to continue the conversation. "Why is that?" She asked as casually as possible. Parker laughed up ahead of them and Veronica noted that her walking buddy's eyes were glued to the back of the blonde's head. "Mackie?"

Mac's shoulders shook slightly, even as she slid her hands into her pockets. They shouldn't be talking about this. Not about her, and certainly not about what Veronica obviously wanted to bring up. She had banished all of those thoughts and memories into the back of her mind long before she had started dating Bronson. Not too long after she had gone to the funeral alone. Everything even remotely related to a year ago was over to her. Gone.

"Hmm?" Her head had moved closer to her friend, but her eyes stayed glued to Parker's back. The lei design on the girl's hoodie was an excellent focal point. When Veronica didn't answer, Mac finally allowed herself to look at her friend.

"I know that this weekend – "

"Don't." She said quickly, perhaps a little colder than she had intended. Wallace glanced behind them for a moment, probably just as startled at the harsh sound of Mac's voice as Veronica was and when Mac looked away he turned back to whatever Piz was saying. "This is a week to relax." She amended.

Veronica sighed and shook her head. "It's a week to purge." She reminded the computer specialist. "It's not just for me and Logan and Duncan. It's for you too." She stopped Mac with a hand on her shoulder and almost forced the dark haired girl to turn. "What happened that night…"

"Is fine." Mac insisted again, happy to hear the sounds of Lilly coming up the path behind them. "It happened, and now it's over." She ran a hand through her hair and turned just in time to see Logan and Lilly come bursting around the corner they just turned. "We move on." Mac held her hands out for Lilly and smiled over at Logan. "I'll take her." She offered.

It wasn't until Mac has increased her step to catch up with the three that were ahead of them that Veronica actually acknowledged that Logan was beside her. "She won't talk."

Logan blinked and ran the sentence through his brain for a moment. It was obvious that she was talking about Mac, it was the subject of the conversation that Veronica wanted to have that confused. Then he watched the group before them hit the field in front of the lake and Mac purposefully slid herself beside Wallace to keep from having to acknowledge Dick. "Not everyone feels like it's a good idea to relive that night." He told her simply. His pointed stare reminded her that she had been one of those people once upon a time.

"She won't even say his name." Veronica pointed out. Granted it had taken her two months before she could bring herself to think about that night on the roof with any form of rationality, but she at least could admit who she was up there with.

"Dick won't either." He reminded her, nodding to his roommate. "If it weren't for the picture of all of us in TJ I don't think Dick would even admit he had a brother." They had reached the clearing, Duncan passing them to go take a whining Lilly out of Mac's grasp and allow her to roam free in the grass

"So what do I do?"

There were many sides of Veronica that Logan would readily take on any day of the week. The one before him was not among them. "Nothing." He responded carefully. "You let her deal with it her way."

Veronica shook her head and watched Mac wander to the water. "And what if her way doesn't work?" She asked quickly, wishing that Logan would agree with her about this.

"Then you be there for her." He whispered into her ear, sliding an arm around her and pulling her into a brief hug. He stayed there beside her for a moment before nodding to Wallace and excusing himself carefully. He moved around the blanket that Parker had lain out and carefully come up behind the brunette staring out into the water. "Hundred dollars for your thoughts."

Eyes wide, Mac had to resist the urge to spin around to confront Logan. He of all people should understand the need to be alone with your thoughts. "And here I thought you flaunted your money." She said indifferently.

Logan shrugged, noting that she still hadn't turned to look at him. "I was being serious." He answered carefully. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his wallet. "Although I should be asking you for payment."

"She wants to talk too much." Mac didn't even have to nod for Logan to understand who it was that she was referring to.

"She wants to make sure you're all right." He warned her, his tone conveying the fact that he understood his frustration but he wouldn't allow her to attack Veronica. Logan had been there when Veronica had dumped him the summer before senior year. He understood lashing out at her because she was by far the easiest target. But she cared more about her friends than her own life most days, and Mac turning on her after everything would kill her.

"Is that why you're here?" Mac's voice had gone cold again. "To make sure I'm all right?"

He stepped up beside her now, looking out at the dock on the other side of the lake. "No." He stated bluntly, watching her eyes widen a little out of surprise before she schooled her features back into a frown. "I'm here because I understand pain. I thought you could use a little company."

"I'm not in pain." She argued defiantly, closing herself off again by wrapping her arms around herself.

Logan nodded knowingly and pierced his lips together. "If that's true then you never cared about Cassidy."

At the sound of his name, Mac shivered, shrinking back into her jacket despite the summer heat. She took a step away from Logan and shook her head. "You don't know a thing about how I felt." She snapped, trying somewhat unsuccessfully to keep her voice down. "You didn't even try to get to know me until after – "

"I knew him." Logan stated calmly. It made no sense for both of them to get worked up. "And I know he loved you." Logan pulled her into a sideways hug and rested his head on top of hers. "And I know you're allowed to grieve." He dropped a kiss to the top of her head and gave her a minute before pulling away. "I'm here if you need an ear."

* * *

_3:23 pm__  
Sunday, June 10th 2007_

Lunch had gone smoothly enough, with everyone grabbing what they wanted from the basket and entertaining themselves. The boys had started up an odd game of football shortly after Parker decided that no one was getting in the lake for at least an hour so no one would drown. Lilly had exhausted herself, and her new Uncle Logan, and Veronica couldn't help but to laugh at the fact that they were now napping together, the smaller one of the two resting on top of her counterpart's stomach while everyone else was more or less trying to overcome their own exhaustion so they could walk back to the house.

"Anyone wanna play a game?" Parker had pulled her wet hair up into a ponytail, and was now toying with Mac's long brown locks. "We could try another round of Getting to Know You."

"Getting to Know You?" Even as he took another handful of the chips that he and Wallace had dumped onto a plate between them, Piz sat up to frown at Parker.

The look that crossed Parker's face was somewhere between irritation and joy. "Yeah, like twenty questions."

"Otherwise known as the game we played last night." Veronica snagged Duncan's drink and shook her head. The last thing that everyone needed was another round of absolute truth.

Lilly shifted, and Logan opened his eyes long enough to locate his water bottle to the left of Veronica's hip. "You know, one of these days you're going to have to try positive thinking." He downed a few gulps and rolled, holding Lilly to his chest so he could set her down on the blanket. "Why don't you start us off Piz." He decided.

For a moment, Piz looked confused. "Uh, okay…" He wiped the grease from his chips on his swim trunks and looked around. "Wallace." His roommate looked up and cracked a grin. "Finish this sentence; the day I met my best friend I…"

"And the **_obvious_** doesn't count." Logan told Wallace quickly, eyeing him and then his clothes. Parker and Piz may not have been aware of the flagpole incident, but Logan was only sure that something else interesting had happened that day.

Wallace sighed and shrugged. "Okay. The day I met my best friend I… I learned Eli Navarro is scared of short blondes."

"I didn't **_scare _**him." Veronica protested harshly. And it was true. If anything that day Veronica only proved that she wasn't intimidated by him. Weevil had found it more amusing than anything else.

"You did something, Superfly." Wallace watched Veronica huff and take another sip of her drink. "Echolls." Logan sat up straighter and Wallace laughed. "I used to covet my best friends…fill in the blank."

"Piece of ass." He said without hesitation, only noticing afterwards that he probably should have phrased it differently. Or maybe not said it at all.

Veronica screeched his name and smacked his shoulder even as Dick looked up carefully. "You used to like Madison?" He asked offhandedly.

Logan winked at Veronica and smiled. "I also used to dream about my girlfriend's best friend, in case any of you are interested."

Duncan stole his drink back from Veronica and thought about tossing the bottle at his friend. He would have too, if not for the fact that Lilly was laying just a little too close. "I didn't need confirmation on that." He decided after a second then he laughed. "Although Lil would be happy to know that she was right."

"She already knew." Logan threw out, even as he sat up. "Veronica."

"Oh God." The blonde shook her head. "What?"

He tapped his index finger against his lips as if he were thinking about what it was that he was going to ask her. There were a million and one things that he wished he could ask. Then again there were just as many that he wanted to ask when they were alone. "We'll start easy." He decided. "Strangest thing you carry in your purse on a daily basis."

Veronica bit her lip as she thought. All of the things she carried were essential to her life and what she did. She didn't think that any of them were too strange. "I have two key cards to the Presedential Suite of the Neptune Grande." She decided at last, looking up to Logan to ask for confirmation that that was enough.

But Logan wasn't looking at her. He and Duncan had turned to each other at the mention of the key cards and it was a true comedic moment when their mouths opened at the same time. "You never got yours back?"

Parker shook her head at the guys and then frowned. "Doesn't count." She pointed out. "They were given to you by your boyfriend. Not strange."

"Uh…Then I'm not sure." Veronica's hand came over her hair reflexively, tugging at the roots before pulling the tip. "I've got a cell phone interceptor, a few of those coasters from the last frat party, my tazor, Dad's lock pick kit-"

Logan's laugh was enough to get her to stop tallying off the contents of her purse. "That's enough. It's all weird." He finished off his bottle of water and tossed it over in the direction of the trash bag. "Although I would have gone with the silly putty you hide in the Altoid case. Your turn."

"Duncan." Veronica held her hand out for the drink they were sharing and watched as her ex-boyfriend didn't even flinch. "If you could pick a theme song for your best friend, what would it be?"

"Depends on the best friend." He answered honestly, passing Veronica a look that read that Logan wasn't his only true friend. "I'm kind of partial to Every Me, Every You." He threw a grin over at Logan and then laughed. "Or Superman, the Five for Fighting version."

The smile on Veronica's face only amplified when Wallace shook his head. "And here I'm thinking a little Right Said Fred."

"I'm too sexy." Logan dead panned, trying to keep the grin off of his face, his usual cockiness taking a backseat to the fact that he'd had a toddler attached to him for the last hour or so. Then again, he could probably attribute it to the fact that he'd been three rounds with Duncan in the last two days.

As if he realized where the conversation was likely to go, Duncan laughed and pulled out another drink from the cooler. "Mac." He decided at last, watching the brunette staring up at the clouds finally sit up. "What is the weirdest thing you ever did on a date?"

There were plenty of things that came to mind at that question. Her and Bronson had roped Parker and Logan into a scavenger hunt once, and then there was the time that Bronson decided that she was too serious and took her to Chuck-E-Cheese for dinner. She wasn't sure what compelled her to look in Dick's direction, and the smile that lit her face was one that she couldn't fake. "I shopped for a transvestite escort on a date once." She said carefully, trying a little too hard to make it sound nonchalant.

"An escort?" Parker sat up a little straighter as Logan readjusted himself on his side of the blanket. "Was it for you?"

"No." Mac coughed to get the gravel out of her voice and then she laughed. "A perv at a fair I went to needed a little lesson in etiquette."

"Did he learn it?" Although he wasn't sure what was more interesting, the fact that Mac bought an escort or was teaching someone a lesson that didn't involve Veronica, Duncan definitely knew that he wanted to know this story.

Mac threw a smile over her shoulder at Dick and shook her head. "Don't think so." She said after a minute. "Although I'm only sure he won't forget it any time soon."

"Would that you could spit out the memories." Logan's smirk was all it took for Mac to understand that he knew exactly what it was that she was talking about. "Interesting night for us all." He nodded.

"You were there?" Duncan's eyebrows rose and Logan nodded. "Why is it I miss the good stuff?"

He had a few answers to that one. Most of them would get Logan assaulted if he thought to say them aloud, but they were there. "You'll be here the next time we rent an escort." He promised with a smirk, looking to Mac. "Your turn."

"Veronica." The blonde's head shot up again, and Mac remembered just how easily her friend had faded into the background the night before when they had played. She had answered a few questions, when they had come to her, and dodged anything remotely personal about herself. It was typical Veronica Mars. "Worst break-up."

It required a lot of thought really, because each of her breakups were bad on so many levels. There was her first, when Duncan thought they were siblings and cut her from his life without warning or explanation. Then there was the one after that, when she had her boyfriend arrested for falsifying an alibi and facing possible murder charges. Veronica studied her bottle of water for a minute before remembering the pain she had felt when Duncan had left town the second time and her drive to dive into all things case related. "It's a toss up." She decided at last, watching as Wallace sat up and scooted closer to her. She'd lay odds down that almost anyone at the blanket who went to school with her would say that she and Duncan's first break up hit her hardest. "Finding out my boyfriend slept with the one person on the planet I loathe the most…" She allowed Logan to soak it in before smiling slightly. "Or the night the lamp died and Dad got the pleasure of throwing my boyfriend into a wall."

"I'm sure he's just thankful that you guys hadn't put the picture on the wall yet." Logan laughed, rubbing the wrist on the arm that had been pulled behind him. He'd been arrested quite a few times in his life, but he could honestly say that nothing about cops had truly terrified him until Keith Mars had introduced him to the living room wall.

"Everybody got to beat the hell out of Logan for that one." Duncan told the blanket quickly.

"Where is the most awkward place you ever got caught having sex?" Veronica looked up at Parker and smiled.

Parker stopped for a second, remembering one rather unfortunate make out session at the Grande where Veronica and Wallace had seen more than they probably had bargained for. But that wasn't the question. "Probably in kitchen at my parent's house." She answered, biting her lip. "My sister and her little friend caught us, thankfully before it got too far." There was a gleam in her eye and she looked across the blanket. "Mr. Echolls, very same question."

"Alas, it was in a bed." He ran a hand over his hair at that particular memory and then laughed. "We were caught by my girlfriend's mother."

Duncan shook his head. "A bed? As in, in a house?" Logan nodded. "And Celeste caught you?"

There was a slight grin on Veronica's lips as Logan noticed her recalling the same incident. He had no doubt that she had gotten the play by play about it from Lilly. "Apparently she wasn't too happy with our location." He threw out.

"Which was?"

Logan's laugh told Duncan all he needed to know. "**_Her_** bed." Logan clarified, flashing a smile to Wallace and Mac. "Now, DK, since we're talking about family. Who's your favorite member of yours?"

"Scooter."

There had been no hesitation in Duncan's voice as he threw the name out.

"Scooter was a dog." Veronica's face was full of confusion as she watched everyone turn to stare at Duncan.

"So…"

Logan shook his head at his friend and laughed. "Scooter was **_my_** dog."

* * *

_6:10 pm__  
Sunday, June 10th 2007_

The den was more than dark when he opened his eyes. It didn't amaze him that he couldn't see two feet in front of him when he groped for the lamp on the table. With his eyes still closed he felt for the switch. He could hear a soft giggle as he felt rather than saw the light flood into the room. The giggle happened again and he finally opened his eyes, not moving from his spot on the couch.

He didn't know if he was supposed to be surprised at the fact that he wasn't surprised at what he saw.

"_You see dead people_." His sister was sitting on the coffee table in front of him as comfortably as if she were alive and well and had come on the trip with them. She was dressed down for once, looking more as she had before harassing Celeste had become the main objective in her life. Her black halter was tight enough to show more than enough of her ample cleavage, but it tapered off under her breasts to cover her down to her hip in the soft fabric. Her jeans, something that Duncan hadn't seen her in in years, were flare bottoms, and he had to strain to see the tips of her bare toenails. One leg was crossed over the other and she leaned back, her hair falling away from her face. "_And for once you're not drugged_."

He ignored her, more out of habit then anything else. Most of his high school career after her death he had caught glimpses of her everywhere. The only difference was the face that this time she was actually interacting with him and he was more than fairly certain that he was asleep. After all, eight adults and a toddler couldn't be **_this_** quiet.

When Duncan realized that Lilly was going anywhere, he pulled his head from the throw pillow and raised an eyebrow. "If I ask you why you're here, will you go away?"

Lilly's smile grew as she pulled both feet up onto the table and hugged her knees. "_Someone's gotten bolder_." When Duncan sighed, she leaned back. "_Freedom looks good on you little brother_."

"You sucked at being coy when you could breathe, Lil." Duncan finally gave up lying still and leaned up to drop his feet to the floor. He had to admit that this was more than a little disturbing. The last time he had had a conversation with Lilly postmortem was shortly after he had stopped taking his medications. Upside to this was the fact that the hideous gash on the side of her temple was gone. "Are you here for a specific reason, or just to annoy?"

She seemed to think for a moment, propping her chin on the top of her knees while one hand scratched absently at the back of her neck. Duncan vaguely noted that her nails had French tips on them. "_I never annoy_." She informed him haughtily. "_I confuse, I enlighten…once or twice I've seduced…_" Her eyes clouded with a past memory and then when his caught her attention she wrinkled her nose. "_But I never annoy_."

"And which of those can I expect?"

"_Maybe a bit of all three_." She considered it a moment before nodding.

"And which do I get first?"

Laughter poured from Lilly's open mouth, and had Duncan not realized that he was well and truly asleep in the den, he would be worried about her bringing the other inhabitants of the house into the room with them. "_Confusion is a prerequisite with you_." She started, tucking one foot under the other and fanning her hair over her shoulder. "_And the only sister you've wanted to seduce you isn't really your sister_."

"It's good to see you've grown as a person. "Duncan shifted just enough to ease the tension in his legs. The fact that Lilly was trying to piss him off from beyond the grave somehow didn't bother him as much as he thought it should. "What do you want?"

"_Testy_." Lilly mimicked his actions, squaring her jaw and narrowing her eyes. When Duncan bit back a retort, she shook her head. "_Why'd you do it_?"

_**That**_got his attention.

"I've done quite a few things. You're going to have to be more specific."

"_You know damn well what I'm talking about_." She dropped her feet and leaned her elbows onto her knees. There were only a few things that she could really care about. Although seeing as though she was traipsing around his subconscious there really was no telling what Lilly would know and want to talk about. "_I could care less about what CW did to Aaron. And you knocking up a girl? Not as interesting as it sounds. Why did you do it_?"

"Do what?"

She was getting pissed now, or at least as pissed off as an apparition could get. "_You and Logan and your little agreement_?" She dropped both hands and shook her head. Still, Duncan refused to acknowledge what she was referring to. "_Why did you just give up like that_?"

"What's it to you?" He asked carefully, trying to decide if this argument would be better had standing or sitting. "Seriously Lilly, why would you care?"

"_Because you're my brother_." The tone of her voice left no room for hesitation. She watched seriously as Duncan shifted onto his feet and moved to the other side of the coffee table. He was nervous now. "_You're my brother, Duncan_." She said again, this time louder. "_And I want what you want, and you want Veronica_."

He wished that his sister wasn't right.

Duncan scanned the half empty shelf above the television and tried to remember which pictures used to be there. The ones that were left were ones that he was only sure Logan had chosen himself. There was one or two in the house of Trina, and more than a handful of Lynn. The family rooms were filled with their Fab Four days, however. His eyes rested on a picture of Veronica and he sighed.

"I don't want Veronica." He said slowly, tearing his eyes away from the picture. "I want her to be happy."

Lilly rolled her eyes. "_You want Veronica to be happy **with** you_." She stood just for a moment, turning and dropping onto the couch that her brother vacated. "The sooner you stop lying to yourself the happier all three of you will be."

"I'm not lying, Lilly." Duncan finally turned back to face his sister and sighed. "She's not mine and she won't tolerate me treating her as if she was." He reminded her, trying his hardest not to raise his voice. Lilly didn't respond to threats and shouting. Then again, seeing as though she was dead, there was no telling what she did respond to. "And she loves Logan." He said softly.

"She doesn't know who she loves." Lilly leaned back on the couch and shook her head. Her brother was one of the best men she had ever had the pleasure of meeting; it was a shame that he didn't see it that way. "She and Logan are close because of you and you're handing her to him without a fuss."

Duncan laughed. "Even dead you're trying to shake us up." His voice rang through the room and once again he had to remind himself that he was asleep. "What Lil, it wasn't enough to fuck with Logan when you were alive?" When Lilly blanched Duncan fully turned to face his sister. "He has a shot at actually being happy. So does Veronica. For once just let them be, or help them." He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. It was so much easier said than done. "I'm on the run, a thousand miles away with a child. That's no life for her."

Their eyes met and Lilly nodded. "She's amazing." She admitted softly, causing Duncan to try to decide whether she was referring to his daughter or their friend. "You're a good dad, Donut."

Coming from his sister it was definitely something. "Thanks." He allowed softly. Lilly stood, straightening her top and running a hand through her hair. "Do me a favor Lil, before you go?"

"What now?" She wasn't nearly as annoyed as she pretended to be. She would do almost anything for her brother, dead or alive.

"When you see Logan," he gave her a nod that implied that he understood that she would. "Tell him you loved him."

Lilly smiled, moving around the room to drop a kiss onto her brother's cheek. "Of course."

* * *

_6:20 pm__  
Sunday, June 10th 2007_

"You gonna tell me what it was you and Duncan were up all night talking about?"

Logan shook his head and downed the rest of the beer in his bottle, watching the beginnings of the sunset off of the front porch. "Wasn't planning on it." He told her after a second, not even bothering to turn to look at her. The last three days he had made it a point to give Veronica as much space as she desired. There was no telling what was going through her head at any given time, so he thought it best to just let her be. "What DK and I talk about it what DK and I talk about."

Her laugh was closer, and if he were to guess, he'd say that she was right behind him, a little to the left. "And if it was about me?"

"You're not the only thing we have in common." Logan reminded her, setting his bottle onto the rail. "How's Mac?"

"Playing chess with Wallace." She said softly. Her best female friend still wasn't talking to her, and it annoyed her slightly. "What did you say to her, anyway?"

Logan's mind blanked for a moment as he remembered just what it was he had said to get the computer tech mad at him. "Just reminded her that she was loved." Veronica seemed to nod behind him and he turned, sliding one foot back over to her side of the railing. If he were alive, his father would have killed him for sitting on the railing. "Which goes for you too, ya know."

"You love me?" She threw the words out before she actually thought about them, and when Logan laughed, she did to. "Good to know." Veronica moved closer to the pillar his feet were resting against, she smiled. What time do you think we should wake Duncan up?"

"Let him sleep." He told her. "He hasn't been in the last few days, and we can put Lilly to bed."

"When did you become Mr. Mom?" Veronica's smile was wide as Logan finally looked at her.

The only thing he could think of was to return her smile and nod mysteriously. "Just because I never had to doesn't mean I can't." He allowed her a wink and then turned back to the sunset. "Besides, how do you know there's not a little Echolls out there?"

For half a second, Veronica actually considered it. It wouldn't be too out there for Logan to have a child. After all, the man slept with more women then most Greek Gods boasted. And she wouldn't have put it past some of the girls to try to keep him by a pregnancy. It wasn't unheard of after all. But as she studied the lines on his face she shook his head. Logan was nothing if not meticulous when it came to sex. He was tested at least once a month, something that his mother had started when he had gotten mono his freshman year, and if it weren't for the fact that they had been taught it was unsafe, he would probably double wrap himself. He hadn't even considered going without a condom with her, and he had paid for her birth control pills at least twice when they had been dating.

"Because I know you." She decided after a second. "And if there were, and that's a big if, Little Echolls would be right here with you." His eyes dropped and she allowed her smile to go with it. "You're a better man than your father was."

At her admission, Logan startled, looking into her eyes to come up with the reason why she was being this accommodating. "And you're nothing like your mother." He countered, pulling himself all the way around the railing to look at her fully. "I mean, you can't hold your liquor for shit."

Her fist connected with his shoulder before she could stop herself, and Veronica watched as he caught her hand and pulled her closer. If she was going to say anything at all, it was cut off by their proximity. His face tilted just slightly, their noses almost brushing, and Veronica sucked in a breath.

"Hey Superfly." Wallace's voice forced Veronica to step back, and she ran a hand over her hair just as he appeared in the doorway. "We were gonna throw a casserole in the oven, any preference?"

Logan bit his lip and hopped off of the railing, putting as much distance between himself and Veronica as possible. He wasn't sure whether to thank or beat her best friend. "I'm gonna go check on Lilly." He decided, skirting past Veronica. "Leaving her alone with Parker and Dick might not have been wise."

* * *

_11:23 pm  
__Sunday, June 10th 2007_

The term 'sleeping where you dropped' had been taking literally by almost all of the occupants of the cabin in the last few days, although there was only one person that never stayed where she fell asleep. Duncan helped Dick clear the remnants of their poker game from the card table that they had pulled into the living room and threw a glance over to the floor where Veronica had fallen asleep with Mac and Parker halfway through this game of life. Wallace had already woken Mac to move her upstairs, and all that was left was the board game, and the tiny blonde detective.

"Whose turn is it?" He asked the room, handing the chips on his side of the table to Logan to throw into the organizer.

"I say we leave her there." Dick dropped the cards into their designated spot and then turned, catching sight of Piz asleep halfway off of the couch. "I can carry her to her room," he changed his min quickly, turning to look at Logan. Veronica may not have been his favorite person on the planet, but she meant a lot to his two best friends.

Logan shook his head. "I don't think she'd enjoy the thought of you carrying her anywhere." He reminded his friend softly, trying to figure out the logistics of getting his ex off of the floor.

"I got her." Duncan was across the floor and had Veronica in his arms before the other two could contest. "You want to help me with the doors?" He asked Logan after a second.

As tempting as the offer was, Logan shook his head. "You go." He told Dick. "I'll finish up here."

When Dick and Duncan were up the stairs, Logan sighed. Piz was still asleep on the couch, something that he wasn't about to try to rectify. If the younger man felt like crap after a night on the couch it served him right. The idiot had been mumbling for half an hour anyway. Now in the quiet, Logan could make out what it was he was saying, or rather, who he thought he was talking to. Veronica's name was pulled past his lips, and Logan had to resist the urge to beat him in his sleep.

"Keep dreaming." He said at last, setting the poker chip organizer on the coffee table and turning to keep Piz out of his line of sight.

* * *

You know the drill... Reviews equal Chapters. 


	5. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four: **

_6:13 am_

_Monday, June 11th, 2007_

It was the earliest she had been up in months when there wasn't a lab waiting for her at the end of a coffee cup. And, if for no other reason than the fact that she couldn't hear Piz snoring or Dick's stereo, Mac found herself out on the back patio, curled up on a lounge chair with her laptop on the table next to her. It was still far too warm for a place this close to the mountains. She contemplated turning on some music of her own, but then she wasn't sure what genre would coincide with her current mood. And there were at least two rooms on the back of the house that had windows open.

She leaned back against the padded seat and allowed her eyes to ease shut once more. Sharing a room with Parker was most definitely not conducive to a decent nights sleep, especially not three hundred miles away from home. They had talked about almost everything, from Logan and his attitude adjustment to Dick being morose. The latter Mac would never admit that she played with the answer a little. Parker was gathering enough information without bringing Cassidy into the mix.

"_Cindy_?"

Her eyes were open faster than she would have thought possible, and Mac had to force herself to stay in her seat. There were three people on the planet that had referred to her by her given name after her freshman year in high school, two of which were probably still in their beds in Neptune and one…

"_Cindy_?"

Her head shook even as her hands forced themselves to stay still. This wasn't happening. There was no way possible that she could be seeing this. There was someone on the other side of the pool, dressed in layers, watching her. Her eyes shut again, forcing the image from her brain. "Go away." She asked softly, reaching past the arm of the chair for her juice. She managed a few slow gulps before opening her eyes again. Thankfully the image was gone.

"Mac?"

For a split second Mac wondered which was more embarrassing, accidentally dropping her glass filled with juice on the patio, or flinging it at a guy dumb enough to try to sneak up on her. She decided on the latter on account of his shirt being worth more than her wardrobe. "Sorry." She started, scooting forward and picking the glass up off of the patio. It hadn't broken, which was probably the only plus. "You kind of snuck up on me."

Duncan toyed with the wet spot on the front of his shirt for a moment before unbuttoning it. "I got that," he joked carefully. Although he didn't know her nearly as well as he would have liked to, he could still tell when something was wrong. "Everything okay?"

"Peachy," she said quickly, watching his eyes darken in a way that definitely stated that he didn't believe her. "Just wanted to hang out by the pool this morning."

"You looked a little panicked when I first came out."

Her head shook again, and she tried to block the image from earlier out of her mind. She would have to call Bronson later in the day, try to put this whole thing behind her. "I thought I saw something." Mac decided that she would go with something a little closer to the truth and then stood. "It was just my mind playing tricks on me."

"That happens a lot," Duncan agreed, running a hand over his face. "Logan and I are starting breakfast in case you're interested."

Mac nodded, grabbing her laptop and holding it close to her chest. "As long as you can promise me some black coffee and scrambled eggs I'm on board."

Duncan laughed. "Deal."

* * *

_7:44 am_

_Monday, June 11__th__ 2007_

"I'm telling you man, it was her."

Breakfast had been started, and Mac had been fed. They had another hour before Lilly would wake up, maybe two after that before they had to worry about feeding the girl's godmother. Dick was already awake, if one could believe it. His bedroom door had been left open when he'd gone to take his morning shower. If Logan were to guess he'd say that Piz would be up before Veronica. After all, there were only a few ways to turn before the den couch evicted you. When Duncan had said that he needed to talk, Logan assumed that it would be about Veronica again. He might have been more prepared had it been about their mutual ex. If they kept up the conversation that Duncan was trying to have, he was going to need something stronger than the cigarette in his hand.

Logan hoisted himself onto the corner where the railing met itself and shook his head. He wasn't sure what it was that he should be more concerned with, the fact that his best friend was seeing ghosts in his sleep or that, when Veronica realized that he had started smoking again, she was going to bury his body in the mountains. He lit one absently while staring over the top of the house. He'd take one problem at a time.

"You see dead people." He joked solemnly, taking a drag and turning slightly. He had to admit she starred in more than one dream of his own. "We've all had dreams of Lilly." He thought for a moment and then shook his head. "Well, except Mac or Dick, but he's woken up quite a few times screaming since…"

It was a shame that Duncan only understood half of the puzzle. He knew Cassidy had blown up a bus full of classmates, but not the rape. He had seen that the kid had flung himself off of the roof, but Logan was fairly certain that he wasn't aware of the gunfight, or the twenty minutes where Cassidy had tortured Veronica with her own tazor. Amazingly enough, Logan wasn't looking forward to informing him of any of those things either. Maybe it was just better for them all if he didn't know. Duncan nodded knowingly and Logan shook his head.

"What about 'Ronica?" Duncan asked carefully, stepping to the edge. "What keeps her up at night?"

"The world's problems." He took a drag off of his cigarette and hung his head as he exhaled. "She needs to save everyone. Unfortunately she doesn't count herself as part of everyone." If it weren't for the fact that he knew Duncan as well as he did, he would have offered the other man a cigarette. "But I thought we were talking about Lilly?"

"Lilly wanted to talk about Veronica," Duncan supplied, as if that made all the sense in the world. Then again, it just might have.

Logan chuckled over the butt of his cigarette. "That sounds like Lilly," he decided after a second. "Who is she trying to set our Veronica up with now?"

"Me." Duncan leaned backward against the railing. "She seems to think that I've grown enough of a backbone for her." When Logan snorted back a laugh, Duncan chuckled. "That was my answer too."

With one hand propped up on his knee, and the other still holding onto the cigarette in his mouth, Logan shook his head. "Lilly was Lilly," he said after a moment. "And Lilly is dead."

"I know." Duncan shook his head. "Doesn't make it any less realistic."

Logan nodded. "No it doesn't." He turned away from his friend and wished that he had remembered to bring his coffee out with him. He was probably going to need it if Duncan wanted to keep up the conversation. "If Veronica heard us talking about this, she'd put us both on a plane to Australia."

"You could come stay with me." Duncan grinned, moving a little bit further away from his friend. They were both trying to read the other without giving too much away. "Despite my exiled state, I have plenty of room. Although I have to warn you, my daughter seems to enjoy the screaming baby version of an early wakeup call."

Logan chuckled and flicked his cigarette over the edge of the deck before pulling another out of the pack in his pocket. "You ever been woken up by Ronnie?" He asked offhandedly. "I'll take the baby."

"I thought breaking up three times meant that she was no longer your wake up call?" He leaned against the railing for a few seconds, avidly studying his friend. "Not to mention, don't you still live a the Grande?"

They both smiled at the revelation Veronica made yesterday about her entry to the presidential suite. "It would probably help if I took the keycard back," he admitted.

"Or moved out. How long are you planning on living out of a mini bar?"

"Do you and Veronica synchronize your lectures?" He dropped his lighter back into his pocket without lighting the cigarette. He would have to be back in the kitchen soon, and smelling like smoke probably wasn't the best idea. "I already promised to go hunting over the summer to get her off my back." He put the cigarette back into the pack and then turned to the door.

"So you spend a lot of time with her?" he asked as Logan pushed his way through the double doors back into the breakfast nook.

Logan cut him off with a wave of his hand. "I'm not the one with dead people telling me to date her," he pointed out as he moved back to the kitchen counter.

* * *

_10:27 am_

_Monday, June 11__th__ 2007_

She let herself into his room. Oddly enough, he wasn't that surprised. The fact that she had done it while he was in the shower was a little shock to him when he re-entered his room though. He cinched the towel that was around his hips closer to himself and moved across the room, trying to block the image of her sprawled out on his bed from his mind long enough to locate some pants. When she cocked an eyebrow in his direction, without looking up from the magazine, he gave up.

"Why, oh why, couldn't you have been there before I got out of bed?" Logan tossed her a quick smirk before turning to the drawers. He opened two before he remembered where he had put his pants.

In lieu of an actual answer, Veronica just shrugged. "Nice towel."

"If I would have known you were there I would have left it in the bathroom." He was tempted to just drop it on the floor when he located a pair of boxers, but he refrained. Modesty may not have been a priority to him, but he didn't want to make her any more uncomfortable than she probably was at the moment.

It wasn't until he was safely back in the bathroom that she exhaled. "Charming."

"Not lately." She had been prepared for the towel. It was probably why she had been able to school the look of disinterest on her face. When he exited the bathroom in his jeans and bare chest, his boxers peaking out just a little from over the top of the pants, she had to study the pattern of the drapes. With a hint of sadistic pleasure, he turned to her, holding the towel around his neck. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"Just visiting." He watched her from the center of the room, his mouth open slightly as he tried to read her. She was in the middle of his bed, a place where he honestly had never thought she would be again, one leg tucked under the other and her hands resting on the bed behind her. Her hair was down, something he still wasn't sure he was used to after the years of short and choppy, and he wished that he could get away with running his hands through it. "I think Dick actually wants to take a walk with me."

At the mention of Dick, Logan's attention finally went to her words. Lustful behavior and Dick Casablancas didn't sit too well in his head. "He did ask." Logan decided to actually pull a shirt out of the drawer, inspecting the logo before pulling it over his head. "Dick might actually want to talk to you."

"About what?" She pulled her arms to her chest and flopped back onto his bed. His sheets were softer than she expected them to be, and she had to resist the urge to see if they still smelled like him. It wasn't like the room wasn't coated in his cologne. "Our last full conversation revolved around whether or not he knocked up a girl dumb enough to sleep with him."

"Yeah, well Dick's fickle that way." Logan looked to the door that led into the hallway and breathed out when he realized that it was shut. "And we are celebrating the anniversary of the day his brother held you at gun point and stepped off a roof." He held his hands up to her and sighed. "Maybe there are a few things that he feels the need to get off his chest. "

Veronica ran a hand threw her hair and stared up at the ceiling. "How am I supposed to talk to Dick?" She asked, not too sure if it was rhetorical.

"I do it every day."

There was a laugh, and Veronica had to resist the urge to throw one of his pillows at him. "Not what I meant."

Logan nodded, leaning against the dresser to keep maximum distance between them. "You talk to me," he pointed out, crossing one foot in front of the other. "And I think I rate higher on the cretin scale than he does."

"Drugging your best friend doesn't make you a cretin." For the first time in their conversation, she sat upright on the bed. "And your 1430 on the SATs means I can't insult your intelligence."

"I test well." He took a step to the bed and smiled. "Let him talk," he offered. "If it gets too weird, mumble something about medications or Duncan and run. Trust me, he'll understand."

Veronica wasn't too sure what drew her off of the bed to stand in front of him. His arms were crossed against his chest now, and he smiled idly down at her. "I do, ya know," she said after a moment, taking one more step closer to him. They were still a full arms length apart, but neither one of them could feel it. "I trust you."

Logan ruffled her hair with his hand, forcing the even smile that held his lips. "Took you long enough." He cupped her cheek in his palm as she stuck her tongue out at him. "Now come on, I don't believe you've eaten yet."

"Is it that obvious?"

His hand dropped to her hip and he turned, motioning to the door. "I could hear you stomach from across the room." He took a step in front of her to open the bedroom door, and almost toppled over at the shock of her body sliding up behind his. He stopped, held up his hands and didn't turn around. "Please tell me that that wasn't a failed attempt at a piggy back ride?"

Her giggle was answer enough.

When he still didn't move, she was half tempted to ask him about it. "Well?" He got out before she did, holding his arms by his sides. "You gonna hop on?"

* * *

_11:03 am_

_Monday, June 11__th__ 2007_

He was dreaming.

That was the only logical explanation. Duncan Kane was asleep and dreaming about breakfast.

Or high. He could've been high.

He looked up from the paper that he and Mac seemed to be sharing just as Veronica's giggle drifted through the hallway. It was followed a little too closely by a chuckle that sounded dangerously close to Logan's and just when he decided that he was hearing things, they both turned the corner, Veronica on Logan's back. He dropped her on the counter and then turned, heading straight for the pan that was still on the stove top.

"Call your father."

Veronica blinked as she looked at her best friend. "Good morning Wallace." Veronica flipped her hair over her shoulder and pressed an over exaggerated smile to her lips. "How did you sleep?"

"Good morning Veronica." Wallace set his juice down and returned her huge smile. "How did you sleep?" Just as his best friend was about to answer, Wallace cut her off with a wave of his hand. "Call your father. He's at Mars Investigations this morning."

She patted her hip, just as she remembered that she'd left her phone in her room. "Logan, can I borrow your phone?"

There was a pause as Logan's hand immediately went to his back pocket before he paused and glared at her. "Where is your phone?" He asked with a frown. The last time he had let Veronica borrow his phone it was to make a call for the case she was working on and it wound up flying across the room.

"In my room." She smiled up at him and tilted her head just a little to the left. "I think." Even Dick, who was sitting at the end of the table with his coffee and toasted bagel, knew that Logan might as well just hand over the phone now. No one could resist the Veronica Mars head tilt.

"Make the call." He tossed his phone over the island and then turned back to the stove. "Then find your phone," he ordered quickly.

The number to Mars Investigations had been programmed into Logan's phone years ago, and Veronica had to smile as she ran through the numbers when she realized that it had its own number on the speed dial. Her father picked up on the second ring with the usual greeting.

"Hello father," she said with a smile. Veronica wasn't entirely sure that it had more to do with the fact that she was on the phone with her father than the fact that Logan had just set her breakfast in front of her.

"Hello daughter." Keith Mars knew that by calling Wallace's phone would get him on the line with his only child. The only other way for him to incite that response was if he were to call the phone that his daughter was on currently.

"I was told that you were looking for me."

Keith stopped and took a breath. "Looking is an abstract word," he said decidedly. He toyed with the scales of justice on the edge of the reception desk and stared at the wall absently. "I know where to find you. I was merely wishing to speak to you."

For a few long moments, Veronica wondered if her father had turned on the GPS tracking chip in her phone. "About what?"

"Just making sure you're still alive." Keith took his fingers off of the scales and tilted his head to the side. "And not in jail," he added sweetly.

Her eyes shot over to the table where Duncan was currently helping Lilly eat a few bites of his runny eggs. "In jail?" She repeated, trying her hardest no to raise her voice. Either her father was being presumptuous or someone had messed up and alerted him. "Why on Earth would any of us be in jail?"

Her voice twitched just enough for Keith to nod. When in front of his daughter it was often more than difficult to tell if she were lying. The ability that she had acquired made her an amazing card player and an even better mole. It was only when he couldn't concentrate on her face that he could tell the difference. There was definitely something up. "With the crowd you've locked yourself up with, there is no telling when you'll be incarcerated."

"Daddy…" Veronica forced her head to tilt in the opposite direction and looked up at Logan. "Are you planning on driving all the way up here to bust us for underage drinking?" Logan smiled and Duncan had yet to breathe a sigh of relief. "Because honestly, other than Mac spending more time IMing her boyfriend than actually hanging out, no other crime has been committed."

"Of course I believe you, only child of mine." Keith's voice was just as sugary sweet as his daughter's. "I'll just lock up here and go back to the station now that I know you're all right."

"I'll call you in a few days." When she exhaled, her distress went with it. "I love you."

"Love you too honey." Keith dropped the receiver onto its cradle and looked over at the picture of Veronica and Back-up that was kept on the filing cabinet. "Yeah," he sighed. "She's lying."

Veronica looked over at her best female friend and bit her lip. "Tell me that you killed the cache on the office computers?"

"Before we left the office Thursday," Mac said proudly, snagging a piece of Wallace's pancake. "And anything we may have printed out was burned at the Grande."

Logan slid up on the other side of the counter behind Veronica and touched his shoulder. "You think he's on to us?"

When her head shook everyone seemed to calm. "I think he's baiting me," she decided with another sip of her coffee. "If Dad knew something he'd come at me with more than just suspected incarceration." It was a definite Mars trait to gather all of the evidence before accusing family. "He knows something's up, he's just not sure yet."

Duncan looked at his ex and raised an eyebrow. "Everything okay?" He asked quickly, handing Lilly his spoon.

Logan was the one that answered, nodding and rubbing Veronica's back. "We're cool," he told the room quickly. And they were. At least until Keith got bored at the office and decided to compile his evidence against his daughter. He watched Veronica relax and looked over at Duncan. "We still on for that Mortal Kombat tournament?"

* * *

_1:36 pm_

_Monday, June 11__th__ 2007_

"Are you aware you're being watched?" Duncan dropped onto the grass beside his ex-girlfriend and tried to inconspicuously nod to the back door. The Playstation tournament had been put on hold for a group restroom and refreshment break and Duncan had come out to the back yard only to find Lilly trying to decide if eating grass was a good idea and Mac and Veronica arguing over what sounded like surveillance equipment.

Veronica looked up from one of the magazines that she and Mac had been thumbing through and shrugged. "Tall blonde surfer?" She asked after a second. There was a pause as Duncan tried to figure out if the highlights that Logan had in his hair counted as blonde and Veronica bit her lip. "Orphan?" She clarified.

"I'm positive that one of his parents are alive." Duncan looked to Mac. "And I was talking to Mac."

"Why can't Logan be blonde?" Mac looked over at Lilly and huffed. "I'm not speaking to him."

"Mac-"

"If the next phrase out of your mouth sounds like anything I'll hear from a shrink I'm throwing your tiny ass in the pool."

Veronica's mouth shut promptly and she cut her eyes to Duncan. "You want me to talk to him for you?" She offered, trying not to look at the person she was speaking to. As hypocritical as it sounded, Veronica couldn't stand the fact that Mac had buried Cassidy and all events that included him. "I can tell him to back off…or poke his eyes out?"

For a split second, Mac contemplated taking Veronica up on her offer. Then practicality kicked in. "Might not be a good idea," she decided. "After all, Logan would be pissed if Dick bled in the house, and I don't think we have a hospital close enough to make sure he doesn't die." She glanced over Duncan's shoulder and shook her head. "I'm still not talking to him."

She was off the grass before she could stop herself, and while dusting the grass off of her legs, Veronica smiled down at the two still on the lawn. "I'll be back," she told them, turning and moving to the house. When she hopped up onto the porch, she took Dick by the sleeve and pulled him in to the kitchen. "Come, Dick."

Logan skipped the obvious joke as his ex dragged his best friend through the house and out the front door. He wouldn't admit it to Veronica but it was about time she took the initiative and had a conversation with the elder of the Casablancas brothers. He glanced out the back door to see Mac turn back to her magazine and Duncan shake his head and then contemplated moving to the front window to eavesdrop. "What would Veronica do?" He heard the sound of Veronica dropping herself onto the front step and the decision was made.

"What's up Dick?" Veronica kicked both feet out in front of her and watched Dick twitch across the porch.

"Uh…I…"

She would have made fun of him. It was, after all, the Veronica thing to do. But there was just something in his face that forced compassion out of her. "Dick?" She prompted.

"How's Mac?"

Veronica blinked. Of all of the things that could have possibly come out of Dick's mouth, that was the last. Dick and Mac barely acknowledged that the other existed when they were sitting side by side at the dinner table, and now he was concerned with her well being. When her brain had processed, and Dick had started to stare, Veronica opened her mouth. "How's Mac?"

"Yeah." He shuffled his feet and stared at cliff. "I know…this week…" Dick paused. "Can't you just answer my question?"

"Not well." Veronica studied her nails and tried not to notice how Dick's shoulders slumped. Thankfully he had realized that she was answering his question, not being sarcastic. "She'd probably appreciate you not making it any worse."

Dick turned away from her and studied the windowsill. The curtain moved slightly and he hoped that it was the wind and that there wasn't a person on the other side. Then again, the eavesdropper in the house was currently out on the porch with him. "How am I making it worse?"

"Why do you think watching her is helping?"

"I just… I want to make sure she's okay." He still hadn't looked at her. Whether it was the shame of being caught watching the computer tech or the guilt of why he was doing it was anyone's guess.

"Why?"

Dick didn't answer.

So Veronica repeated her question. "You haven't cared about how she's handling _**anything**_ in the last twelve months, Dick." Veronica watched him twitch at the sound of his own name. "Why start now?"

Finally Dick turned and their eyes locked. "You know why." His voice was calmer now; louder but calmer.

"'Cause of Cassidy?" He twitched again and Veronica refused to acknowledge it. Just like she forced herself not to notice the chill running up her own spine. "You're asking about a girl that you've made fun of for the last three years because of a brother that you didn't seem to care too much about either? "

"I loved my brother."

He had moved closer to her. Still too far away to touch, but closer. Veronica forced herself to her feet to try to alleviate the feeling of him towering over her. "Yeah." She laughed, trying to compel the bitterness in her stomach away. "Loved him so much you carried an unconscious girl into Shelly Pomroy's guest room for him, and then made fun of him when you thought he couldn't seal the deal." She was trying to keep her voice neutral. Key word: try. "And then he gets a girlfriend and you berate him and make fun of her. Even after everything he's done to her you still can't find it in your heart to be nice to her. Instead, you call her a _**beard**_."

"How do I apologize for that?" Dick turned again, setting his hands on the railing to keep from waving them. He was looking her in the eye now, despite the awkwardness of how he was standing. "Tell me Ronnie, what do I say to make up for what I did to her? To Cassidy? To you? How do I make this right?"

His voice was earnest, and suddenly Veronica could picture Dick as he had been when she had been first introduced to him. The eager to please friend of Logan and Duncan hadn't changed too much. 'Friend' had turned to 'Toadie' and his loyalty seemed stronger, but it was the same old Dick Casablancas, and Veronica couldn't help but let her heart go out to him. "Dick – "

"I took you into the guestroom." He still hadn't released the railing, but he'd lowered his voice again. "I got you drunk and I laid you out in front of him, and I didn't care what he did or didn't do." He stopped and looked back at the cliff. "I'm sorry Veronica."

Any residual anger Veronica may have had dissipated with the look on his face. He didn't mention the GHB. Logan had sworn never to tell anyone, and she had never really gotten around to explaining the full events of the night to Duncan. Dick hadn't known she was drugged, so she couldn't really blame him for the fact that Madison passed her drink off, now could she? But how did she forgive him for a crime he didn't know he committed. "Leave her alone for a few more days," she said in lieu of forgiveness. "She may come around."

"Veronica."

"What you did wasn't okay. And I'm never gonna forget that night," she admitted softly, following his gaze to the edge of the cliff. "But what happened wasn't entirely your fault, and after everything, I think it's a grudge that I should stop holding."

Dick nodded, trying to digest the fact that the one woman who had held a pretty powerful sway over both of his best friends no longer thought of him as the soulless cretin that she had for the last three years. Veronica coughed and he fidgeted, and for half a second, he could have sworn that they were having a moment.

The sound of a screaming toddler broke through the air and the moment was gone. "So…" He tilted his head to the side and allowed his hair to fall back into his eyes. "You think you're gonna give Logan back his balls sometime this millennia so he can go back to being normal?"

"Moment affectively over." Veronica tossed back. "And I kind of like them where they are. You know, on the key chain with those of all of my other exes'."

"I think he misses you." By the time Veronica registered hearing him, Dick was already back in the house.

* * *

_4:19 pm_

_Monday, June 11__th__ 2007_

Veronica shifted on the porch swing and held up her glass. "I've got this one." She decided, smiling as Logan refilled his glass with what looked like bourbon and handed Duncan the vodka bottle. Lilly was throwing toys around the play pen in the foyer and Mac grabbed another can of root beer from the railing behind her. "I've never embezzled money from a fortune 500 company."

He didn't speak as he studied his tumbler. Then finally Duncan looked up at the assorted group of friends. "Is it counted as embezzling if I'm not the one rerouting the money?" He asked with a look of mock confusion, finally relenting and taking a sip of his drink.

"Broke my ass." Logan stole the vodka back from Duncan and shook his head. "I should have made you pay for your own damn plane ticket."

"And what does Celeste think of your current income status?"

Veronica watched Duncan blink and then he laughed. "If dad told Celeste about sending me money he'd have to buy a whole new dog house." He imagined his mother scowling at his father and then frowned. He hadn't spoken to his mother in a year and a half. If it weren't for the pictures of the last Charity ball that his father had e-mailed him, he might even have forgotten what Celeste looked like. "I've never borrowed my father's Armani for a high school dance." He decided, smiling at Veronica. They were only allowed happy memories this week.

Logan took a swig of his drink almost in time with Dick and then nodded for the blonde to take the next turn. "I never made out in a bathroom with a chick that wasn't my girlfriend." Logan's eyes narrowed at him and he smiled. "And got caught by my girlfriend."

There was a chorus of ohhs and ahhs as Logan proudly downed a good third of his drink. At the rate they were going he was going to wind up drunk before dinner. "Lilly made me beg in front of the whole party for her to take me back," he remembered fondly, and then smiled at Veronica. "And Ronnie here got it on tape."

"I think I brought it with me." She widened her eyes and laughed. "If anyone's up for a video after dinner."

Logan's smirk only got wider as he tipped his glass to her. "Isn't she the best ex ever?" He bit back his laughter and then cast a side look to Duncan. "I never…" he shot a look at Parker and sighed. "No wait, I did that. I've never been taped to a flag pole."

Wallace grinned over to where Duncan and Logan were sharing a laugh and his grin only got wider. "I've never been accused of murder." He waited for Veronica to open her mouth about the case in Chicago and smiled, borrowing Dick's line from earlier. "By my girlfriend."

Both men took sips of their drinks and then Parker scooted closer to the plate of chips in the middle of the group. "I've never seen either of my parents having sex," she chose her wording very carefully, knowing full well that three of the eight people on the porch's parents were divorced. She laughed, watching as Mac scrunched her face and took a sip of her root beer.

There was a far away look in Logan's eye as he drank straight from the bottle and set his head back against the house. "There are two more people who have watched Aaron having sex." He nodded at Duncan and Veronica and then at their drinks. "I'm not suffering alone here."

"I've never had my cell phone interceptor confiscated." Logan laughed, scooting forward just enough to top off Parker's glass and hand the bottle to Dick. Mac flicked him off even as she took a swallow from her drink.

"I can count the number of people I've had sex with," Mac spit out, deciding on Veronica's favorite brand of payback. She leveled her glass at Logan and grinned.

"That's not an 'I never' statement." Logan held his glass straight out an smiled.

Veronica slid closer to Duncan and smiled. "I've never _not_ known how many people I've slept with," she corrected Mac with flourish. There was a pause before Logan took a drink, wishing that there was some way to point out that technically Veronica had to take a drink at that statement as well.

"I've never slept with someone relate-" The pillow was off the swing behind Duncan and smacking Logan in the head before he could even finish his sentence. "_Related_ to my best friend," he finished pointedly, leveling the bottle in front of him at his best friend. "Unfortunately you two still have to drink."

"I'm safe." Duncan informed them all with a grin. While he could join the hordes of 09'er guys who had lusted after Lynn Echolls before she died, he had never partaken. "However Logan, you owe yourself two drinks for that one."

He did a mental count, came up with Lilly and then frowned at Duncan. "Says who?"

Veronica couldn't help but laugh. "Kendall Casablancas." She watched Dick nod and then her grin got wider. "I have pictures of that one too."

There was a pause as he realized that Kendall had indeed kept the Casablacas name long after Dick Sr. had left the country. "Well shit."

A juice cup landed in the center of the game and Duncan bent to retrieve it with a sigh. He held it up for the group. "The lady commands more to drink as well," he decided, pulling himself to his feet. "And I think we've been sitting out here far too long."

"Two hours is only too long for a geezer," Logan said with a grunt, dipping three fingers into his tumbler and then flicking the vodka at his friend. He cast a side look at Dick who was picking at his toe. "Or children."

Veronica was on her feet shortly after Duncan. "We should probably start dinner soon," she said slowly, scratching her back slowly and stretching to the ceiling. "I was thinking lasagna?"

"Sounds good, Superfly." Wallace helped himself to his feet before reaching out a hand for Mac. "You need any help?"

"I wouldn't mind it," she decided, picking up her and Duncan's glasses and holding her hand out for Logan's. He handed it over without flourish and made a show of keeping his bottle. "You can help with the bread and Mac can make the salad."

Her head shook and Mac cocked one eyebrow. "Because that's all I'm gonna get to eat?"

When he reached his feet, Logan laughed. "Yeah, of course, because we don't care about you at all and the fact that you're a vegetarian?" He popped the computer tech lightly on the back of the head as he moved past her into the house. "Then there's the fact that we're poor and we can't afford the stuff to make veggie lasagna too." Mac stuck her tongue out at him and he seemed to smile even though he hadn't seen it. "If you ask her nicely, Ronnie might be convinced to make you your own dinner."

"Go take a nap or something."

Logan turned finally and nodded at his ex and then smiled. "Yes Mommy." He waited a beat and then smacked her rear as she past him.

Despite the fact that Mac was first in the house of the trio, it was Wallace that made it into the kitchen first. He hopped up onto the island and grabbed the oversized bowl down from the cabinet. When Veronica had gotten there, almost all of the required bowls and measuring cups were lain out on the counter beside him. The actual foodstuffs came next, and Mac made it into the room just in time to watch Veronica throw a bag of cheese at Wallace.

"First sign of the cheesy TV montage and I'm heading back into the room with the blonde, the fugitive and the baby."

Wallace laughed at the computer tech and handed her the oversized salad bowl. "That sounds like the makings of a cheesy TV montage," he said after a moment, tossing the head of lettuce her way as well. "But we'll leave the radio off if you're worried."

* * *

His bedroom door opened shortly after he had flopped himself down on the bed. Part of him wished that Veronica had come up for a bit more one on one time. The sound of Veronica and Wallace laughing in the kitchen coupled with the scent of flowery perfume killed that notion. He shifted, keeping his eyes closed against the sun streaming through the window. "What's up, Parker?" 

For half a second she tried to remember how it was he did that. She remembered his attention to detail; it was explained to her the birthday after they had started dating. He had given her a rather expensive bottle of her favorite perfume, and when she asked how he knew he had just told her smell was the most common memory trigger. At first she thought it had been the bull shit answer. When his eyebrows rose expectantly she realized that maybe he hadn't been joking after all.

He still hadn't opened his eyes to look at her. She would announce her presence whenever it was she was ready. It paid to be a patient man sometimes. Her bare feet padded across the room and Logan sighed. Opening his eyes he watched as she dropped herself onto the edge of the bed. "Can we talk?"

Logan sat up and dropped his hands to his jean clad thighs. "Of course," he said quickly. "Any particular topic?"

Parker fidgeted with her hands and kept one foot tapping restlessly on the floor. "Mac's gotten quieter," she said after a minute.

Logan froze. He had been informed about the best friend code of silence, but he wasn't too sure about the friend of a friend code. If that was even what he and Mac were. "Did you ask her about it?" He asked after a second, realizing that sitting with his mouth hanging open wasn't going to look very good at this instance.

"She said it was a thing, and that she'd get over it. And then Bronson said she hadn't talked to him about it." Parker held her breath as Logan's eyes widened.

"You talked to Bronson about this?"

"He's her boyfriend," she rationalized. "I thought he would know… or should. Turns out he's just as clueless. Mac keeps a lot of things to herself."

Logan shook his head. "She has every right to," he said after a second, not realizing he had said it out loud. After all, there were quite a few things in high school that he never told anyone either. The only reason Veronica knew about Aaron's favorite pastime was because he had pissed Trina off. "I'm sure she's fine."

But Parker didn't seem convinced. She drew her feet up underneath herself and sighed. "Who's Cassidy?"

And Logan choked on air.

There were many things about life in Neptune that he was more than happy to explain to Parker. He'd even talked to her one drunken night about his involvement in Veronica's rape when Parker had had nightmares at the Grande, but he'd never mentioned names, and there was no way he'd even hinted at any of the other stuff.

So how did one explain Beaver Casablancas to someone who may only have heard of him as the kid that blew up the bus and then jumped off a roof? Was he Dick's younger brother? Was he Mac's boyfriend? Was there any accurate description for the kid that held more secrets than anyone could think of?

Logan took a deep breath and blew it out of his mouth. "Cassidy Casablancas," he said after a minute, trying to remember the kid that used to throw the controller when he lost and the boy that beat every single final fantasy just to see how they ended. "He's – _was_ Dick's younger brother," he stopped and ran a hand over his hair. "Where'd you hear his name?"

"Mac talks in her sleep sometimes," was all she said, flipping her braid over her shoulder. "How'd Mac know him?"

"They dated a little in high school," Logan left it at that for fear of the short tech murdering him. He swallowed the bile rising to the back of his throat and then bit back a frown. "He died right after graduation."

"Oh."

Logan caught Parker's gaze and held it for a moment. "Just cut Mac some slack this week," he told her with a small smile. "She never really processed it all."

"She needs to." Parker's voice was adamant and Logan reached out to grab her as she tried to slide off the bed.

"Loss hits people differently," he told her after a second. He remembered his conversation with Veronica the day before and sat back on the bed. "DK doesn't remember the fact that he found his sister's body. Dick doesn't admit he had a brother. You ever try to get Veronica to talk about her mom?" Parker's gaze dropped to the comforter and Logan shook his head. "And I didn't believe that Aaron was truly dead until they let me in to see the body before the funeral."

There was the sound of glass breaking followed by three distinct voices laughing and Logan pointed to the door. "Let her deal with it how she needs to," he warned his ex. "If you force grief on her there's no telling what she'll do." Another laugh, followed by another dropped plate and Logan rose to his feet. "Give her time," he told Parker as he pulled her up beside him. "She'll be okay. She's got us." Parker sighed and nodded as she followed Logan down the stairs into the kitchen.

* * *

Duncan ran into the kitchen after the first crash. He wasn't sure what he was expecting to find when he hit the threshold, but Veronica and Mac on the floor covered in lettuce and tomatoes while Wallace tried not to fall off of the counter wasn't it. Both ovens were going, each with an oversized glass pan of lasagna in it and the bread was ready to be put in with one of them at the last possible moment. Which led Duncan back to the pair on the floor. "What happened?" 

His ex-girlfriend burst out laughing again, the strap on her pink tank top catching on her hair and reminding him of a completely other time. She swallowed and looked to Mac. "I tripped," she said simply, indicating the floor. "Mac broke my fall."

"And the bowl." Wallace snorted and tried not to roll onto the bread. The salad would be forgiven; harming Veronica's bread would get him murdered.

Mac had made it to her feet now, holding on to the counter as she tiptoed away from the middle of the floor. Her hand hit Wallace's glass of soda, and it fell to the floor half a second later, shattering much like the bowl had. "Oops."

There were footsteps on the stairs, and Veronica held her breath as she heard Logan's exasperated sigh. He leaned against the door jam and shook his head. "You never could just make food," he said simply, watching as Veronica laughed on the floor. "Yesterday was the food fight, today a bowl. Do I need to go ahead and plan on me and DK doing dinner tomorrow night?"

Even as she sent the handful of lettuce sailing at Logan's feet Veronica was smiling. "Only if you're planning on wearing the pretty pink apron," she laughed, watching the smile spread on Parker's face. Then she noticed how close to Logan Parker was standing and her smile faded. "Now help us clean this up so we can finish in here."

Duncan noticed the change in Veronica almost as quickly as Logan did and he followed her gaze to Parker. He dropped into a crouch before Parker could notice his gaze and reached for a handful of lettuce. "Go take a bath," he prompted his ex and the computer tech. "You two are covered in Italian dressing."

Her playfulness didn't seem to leave her despite the lack of smile and she pulled herself to her feet using the counter as leverage even as Duncan reach past her and accidentally brushed her thigh. "Wanna come scrub my back?" She asked with a toss of her hair.

Duncan frowned at the look on his best friends face and shook his head. "Pass." He pulled a leaf off of her calf and set it on top of the demolished bowl.

* * *

_7:34__ pm_

_Monday, June 11__th__ 2007_

When Veronica's phone rang after dinner, the whole room fell silent. Even Lilly, who was currently using Dick as a jungle gym stopped and watched as the blonde who had been sitting with her legs over Logan's on the coffee table reached for her cell. She wasn't too surprised to see her father's private number at the station on her caller id. Part of her wondered what had him waiting this long.

"Did you know Logan purchased a ticket from Australia to San Francisco two months ago?" Keith Mars was looking at a folder for the latest assault case even as he was recalling information that he had gotten through one of his more lucrative sources.

Veronica looked over at both of her exes before shaking her head. "Trina was filming a movie of the week and needed some help getting home," she answered carefully. There hadn't been a name attached to the tickets, just a confirmation number that Duncan presented at each counter. Duncan had grown his beard out a little more to bypass security once he got into the country. "Logan ordered the ticket online."

The answer was easy, practiced. Keith could almost hear the way she had probably recited it before. The way the ticket had been ordered only made a little sense. "Trina must be glad her brother loves her." He closed the report and ran a hand over his face.

"I'm sure she is." Veronica watched Logan's jaw clench at the sound of the practiced lie. He had been forced to buy Trina a plan ticket the December before and it had seemed like as good a reason as any when Veronica talked about plausible stories. He watched the vein in her temple twitch at having to lie to her father, but it had been her idea. "We're in the middle of strip Scrabble, Dad," she told him with a huff and a roll of her eyes. "Can you be suspicious another time?"

Keith nodded and picked the folder in front of him back up. "Yes honey." He said after a moment. He hated the feeling that Veronica was hiding something from him, but it was her first conversation with him that tipped him off. "Tell Wallace Alicia sends her love and that it wouldn't kill him to call her."

Smiling at the change of topic Veronica nodded. "Count it done," she said quickly. "Love you."

"Love you too honey." Keith dropped the phone to the cradle and closed his eyes. There truly was no worthier perp than his daughter.

"He's getting closer." Logan's singsong voice did nothing to distract from the severity of the situation. Keith Mars was looking for the group's indiscretions, and there was literally no telling what he would do when he found out the truth.

"He wants us to start freaking," his ex-girlfriend returned, setting her phone back on the table and returning to her previous position. She propped her feet back up on Logan's legs and repositioned the throw pillow behind her head. "Dad's trying to rattle me so I slip up. It's fine."

Duncan watched Logan stare at their ex. He held his tongue as long as he could before he stood, running a hand over his face and then looking to the floor where Lilly was back to bouncing on Dick's chest. "Can I talk to you two?" He asked as he nodded to the steps. Parker's eyes flashed hurt at the fact that the trio kept secrets almost as well as the duo of her ex and Veronica, but then Lilly punched Piz playfully in the face and all eyes were back on the toddler.

They didn't stop until Duncan had led them onto the balcony of the second floor, with as many doors shut between them and the rest of the population as possible. He turned around and held out his hand even as Logan was fishing his cigarettes out of his pocket. He handed Duncan one and tossed his Zippo across the deck.

"I'm going to skip the obvious lecture here in lieu of you telling me what's up?" Veronica hopped up onto the railing and frowned as Logan lit his own cigarette. None of them were dumb enough to think that the smoking lecture wouldn't come; Logan just didn't care as long as it was delayed for a little while.

"I think we should go ahead with the contingency plan."

Logan almost dropped his lighter as he fumbled to put it back in his pocket. "No," he said bluntly, not even bothering to look to see what Veronica was thinking about this. After all, it was his phone call to make, therefore it was his decision. "Absolutely not."

"Logan." Duncan was right beside Veronica now, running a hand over his hair. "Sheriff Mars isn't going to stop digging. And sooner or later he's going to realize that there were two seats reserved because children under three fly free." He turned. "Keith isn't a stupid man. He's going to know exactly who's up here and we'll be lucky if he doesn't come up to get me."

"I think we're all overestimating my dad." Veronica shook her head and flipped her hair over her shoulder. "I'm out of town and he's bored. So of course he's going to be digging." She looked to Logan and then to Duncan. "We've been here three days; we're not putting you and Lil on a plane now."

There was a pause as Duncan shook his head. "I think it would be best," he said after a moment.

Again Logan shook his head. "Yeah, well I don't." He didn't pay attention to the way Duncan's mouth was forming more words. "We're here for a reason, and I think Lilly would be pissed as hell if her party was broken up early because we were scared of getting caught."

The deck was quiet now, as Logan finished off his cigarette and flicked the butt onto the concrete below. He'd have to remember to collect it in the morning before they let Lilly roam free. Duncan was staring at the pool now, and Veronica seemed fascinated in their shoes. They had brought up Lilly in the abstract before, jokes at dinner, random comments during their games of truth. It wasn't until that moment that Logan realized that the three of them had never sat down and talked about her outright. The fact that it had come from Logan seemed to shock the other two more than what was said.

"You're not going anywhere until Keith is coming at us with more than a plane ticket and a joke about jail time." Logan pulled another cigarette from his pack and lit it up before Veronica could say anything. He moved to the railing and shook his head. "Now, go put your daughter to bed, grab a beer and kick Dick's ass on the Xbox." He didn't look at his friend, even when Duncan huffed and slammed the door.

"That's probably the sweetest thing I've seen you do in a while." Logan didn't turn to look at Veronica as she slid up behind him. He concentrated on the cigarette in his hand even as Veronica took it from him and dropped it off the edge of the balcony. "And that pack better be gone by the morning."

* * *

Reviews are Love 


	6. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five:**

* * *

_4:30 am_

_Tuesday, June 12th, 2007_

Going to bed in one room and waking up in another was not an uncommon thing to happen to Logan in the four days that he had been in the cabin. After all, between him and Duncan they had carried most of the female population of the cabin from room to room every single night. Although falling asleep in his bed in the mountains and waking up back in Neptune, in a room that he had lost to a fire, now there was a trick that Logan hadn't seen yet. At least he had traded one of his bedrooms for the other. It might have really freaked him out if he'd woken up in Wallace's dorm room.

That was until he saw who was sitting at his desk.

He had seen Lilly many times in many ways since her death three years before. She would appear out of nowhere when he was drunk or alone, and keep him company even when he didn't think he needed it. Thankfully enough she would never talk. Then again, he'd always been awake. Watching Lilly Kane tap her foot on the seat of his old desk chair, while thumbing through a CD case that he could have sworn burned definitely meant that he was asleep. Or drugged.

"First reference to Haley Joel and I'll kill you again." He almost spit at her, rolling from his stomach to his back on the bed. He shifted on the pillows for a moment to get comfortable and then dropped both arms behind his head.

"_Been there_." She laughed carelessly, flinging herself onto the bed and beside him like she had never left. "_Done that_." She rolled, bringing her face dangerously close to the pillow his face was on. "_You're sexier than he is anyway_."

A part of him recoiled at her words. Then there was the part that shifted again on the bed, pulling the pillow slightly closer to him. "Nice of you to notice." He closed his eyes again, instead of watching her eyes widen in some sort of impressed shock.

Lilly's smirk grew wider as she rolled, not closer to him, onto her stomach. "_Someone's a little grouchy_." She giggled, kicking her bare feet up in the air. "_To what do I owe this unfortunate pleasure_?" Her nails suddenly became interesting as she covertly ran her eyes over the plains of his chest that his shirt clung to. "_Or should I say 'whom_?'"

"You should say whatever it is that you came to say." Logan finally gave up lying still and leaned up into a seated position. He had to admit that this was only slightly better than the last time he'd seen Lilly. Then again back then he'd been knee deep in the brothel known as the Pi Sig 'Ladies Night' party. He'd also been so drunk that standing wasn't even a remote possibility. There was a small twinge when he realized that he still had no clue what the name of the Marine Bio major he'd slept with was, or how he'd managed to get a hold of Mac and Bronson to pick him up. "I'm too tired for your games tonight, Lil."

Lilly thought a moment, propped up on one manicured hand while the other scratched at the flower tattoo on her hip that Logan knew intimately. He had gone with her to get it the birthday before her death. He wasn't surprised that the low rise capri's she had on showed it off. "_Fucking moron_."

His breath shot out of his mouth as his chest seemed to deflate. "Excuse me?"

"_Your ears work perfectly fine_." She pointed out, running a hand through her long locks. "_It's the thing between them that makes you move at the speed of a special Olympic hurdler_." She was getting bored with him. Bored and agitated. A near fatal combination if you were the one in Lilly's way. "_You're a fucking moron,_" she repeated, this time emphasizing every word.

Logan didn't even try to understand what it was Lilly was talking about. Instead he simply closed his eyes and prayed that when they were open again he would be back at the cabin. He would take being locked in a room with Wallace's peppy roommate over this dream.

"_I'm dead_."

His eyes opened with a blink. His sardonic gaze met hers with stark realism that neither one of them seemed to expect from the other. "No shit."

Lilly shook her head to shrug off his response. "_I'm dead,_" she said again, as if she hadn't heard him and daring him to interrupt. She had something to say, and by God he was going to listen to her. "_Shelly was the community speed bump. Caitlin a whore_." As her list of names grew longer, Lilly began ticking them off on her fingers. "_Kendall did an amazing impersonation of a classy gold digger, and I'm not even going to attempt to figure out what you saw in __**Hannah**__**Griffiths**__," s_he spit the name out as if it were infected and sighed. "_If it weren't for her brains I'd say you were aiming for Veronica 1.0. Shame she was dumb_."

Logan's mouth opened to respond, but the only thing to escape his lips was her name.

"_And __**Parker**__ would have been __**perfect**__ for you," s_he stopped and slid a little farther away from him. "_Ya know, if not for the fact that her bark was worse than her bite and Daddy Dearest never touched her_ – "

"Lilly" his warning was clear, and there was no doubt in Lilly's mind that the Echolls' temper was truly alive and well in Logan.

"_You __**love**__ her_!" She shouted at last. He didn't need clarification as to who she was talking about, and if he would have thought to ask she probably would have slapped him clear into the next week. Vaguely Logan remembered when Wallace had taken this tactic with him, shortly after he and Parker had called it quits. Then Duncan had tried in the kitchen a few days ago. But neither of them were his dead ex-girlfriend. Lilly Kane could push buttons that no one ever dreamed of reaching for. "_You love her_," she repeated, this time softer. "_Truly, madly, deeply - Titanic style_."

"_**This **_is what you're interrupting my beauty rest to tell me?" Logan was on his feet now, wishing that the draw of Lilly Kane would stop affecting him at some point in his life. "You've more or less woken me up to tell me that I'm in love with Ronnie?" Lilly scooted forward on the bed and he backed up. "Again, no shit."

"_You're scared,_" she stated firmly. "_You love her so much that you'd throw yourself in front of a bullet for her. You __**have**__, repeatedly. You would drop anything to see her, to be near her. You would give up damn near __**everything**__ for her. And you're just too chicken shit to open your eyes and see she'd do the same."_

Logan's jaw clenched as he resisted the urge to beat the hell out of the wall to his left. Chances were that even if this were a dream, Lilly would let his knuckles bruise to spite him. "Ronnie and I don't belong together," he told her slowly, as if she had a mental disorder beyond getting hit in the head with an ash tray. "We've tried – God – more times than I really want to count right now, and we're both far too different."

"_Don't you dare give me your bull shit lines Echolls_." And Lilly was Lilly again, pulling herself to her feet to cross her arms over her chest and cock her head to the side. She wasn't going to sit there while Logan read her the same act that he had fed Duncan two days ago. "_Your daddy beat you, and Leanne ran away. Duncan dropped her like she never existed and I died on you. You were on the top of the food chain and she got her tires slashed_."

As she spoke, Lilly held her hands up like the scales on the lady Justice statue in the Mars Investigation office. "_You held parties and she was raped at one. Veronica's got her taser, and you keep a gun in your glove box_." She was directly in front of him now, her hands held out evenly. "_You're both so different from each other that you're the exact same person_." One hand dropped and she poked him in the chest with the other. "_But this time it's __**you**__ holding back_. _You need to love her so bad it hurts, and it's easier for you if she can't see it_ – "

His laugh cut through her rant, and before Lilly could blink she was on her back on his bed with Logan looming above her. "You'll excuse me if I don't buy this new compassionate Lillian Kane," he told her skeptically. His arms uncrossed from in front of him and again he retreated toward the wall. "You _**actually want**_ Ronnie and me together. Since when?" He laughed again and smiled. "You don't share your toys that way."

Lilly closed her eyes against the picture Logan made in the middle of the room. His hair was rumpled as if fresh from bed, his clothes too loose and too tight all at the same time. His arms were outstretched, showing off the muscles that he had cultivated in her absence. If she hadn't watched the evolution, albeit from afar, she never would have believe that _**this **_man had once been hers.

"_You're not my toy, Logan,_" she said at last, more serious than either of them had ever seen her. Any playfulness that she had had, any anger, was simply gone. "_Not anymore_." Her voice was almost tender as she pulled herself into a seated position on the bed. "_The anger and the pain and the betrayal are still there, but it's not about me anymore_."

Logan tried to blink. "Why do this Lilly?" He asked carefully. "Why show up after all this time to do this?"

"_Because you need this_." Her voice was raw and pure. No syrupy sweet laughter and fake smiles. This was a Lilly that Logan had almost forgotten existed. "_Because my little brother seems to think that you have a shot at actually being happy and I don't want you to __**not**__ take it_." Her voice cracked and she smiled ironically. "_Because, and you're not going to believe this, I __**want**__ you to be happy_.

"_I loved you Logan_." Lilly allowed herself a slow genuine smile as Logan tried not to roll his eyes. "_We can debate just how full of shit I am later, I just wanted you to know that I did. And if I were still capable of it I might still_.

"_You don't deserve to be alone_." Lilly pointed out sweetly. "_You didn't deserve me and all the shit I put you through_." There was a pause and Lilly ran a hand through her hair. She scrunched up her nose and bit her lip. "_Or maybe I didn't deserve you_."

Logan opened his mouth as Lilly seemed to just appear in front of him. "_Go get her, baby," _she whispered, dropping a finger to his lips. "_Be happy_." Her arms slid around his neck as easily as they used to. It felt almost nostalgic as she nipped his ear. "_And your mom says hi_."

He felt her lips on his cheek and then she was gone.

"Lilly…"

* * *

_7:23 am_

_Tuesday, June 12__th__ 2007_

Duncan dove for the bed just as Logan's eyes opened. Lilly, the toddler, was cuddled up against his chest, chubby little arms wrapped loosely around his neck. Duncan held his towel closed as he pulled his daughter away from his best friend. "I'm so sorry dude." Duncan set Lilly on the floor with her blocks and reached for his boxers. "I thought she'd play on the floor while I showered."

His hand went to his cheek as Logan reconnected the dots in his mind. He was back in his room at the cabin, lying on his back in the same position that he had fallen asleep in. Other than the kiss on his cheek, which he could now attribute to the little girl on the floor, there was no sign that Lilly had ever been there.

"Logan?"

His eyes refocused on the now dressed form of his best friend and he forced a laugh. "Your kid just kissed me." Logan sat up and ran a hand over his face. "Maybe naming her after her aunt wasn't such a good idea after all." He dropped his head back onto his pillow for a moment and ran over his conversation with Lilly in the back of his mind. That had definitely been a first as far as his dreams were concerned. Lilly propped her head against the foot board and peered at him through the wooden bars. He chuckled nervously and sat up fully, trying to shake the last bit of his sleep from his face. "You done in my shower yet?"

Duncan tossed his towel at the foot of the bed and nodded. "I'll even take 'Lil down stairs to start breakfast so you don't have to worry about her peeking."

"She can look, but she can't touch." Logan scratched the exposed skin just below his navel and laughed. "There are some things even _**I**_ don't do."

"God and small favors." Duncan scooped his daughter up off of the floor and kissed the top of her head. "You want coffee when you're done?"

Logan nodded, tossing Duncan's towel in the direction of the laundry hamper and reminding himself that Veronica said something about laundry sometime that day. "With a shot of bourbon if it's available," he said with a smile. "Our girlfriend probably wants to talk about my recently acquired habit."

With a groan, Duncan shook his head. "You can't fight Veronica drunk," he warned his friend. "Hell I've seen you try to fight her sober, some thing's are just better not done."

It was Logan's turn to groan, kicking the bathroom door closed behind him with a huff. "Bobcat's got bigger claws than you know," he whispered to himself, turning to the designer shower and wrenching the hot water all the way on. Slipping his sweat pants to the floor he stepped into the spray, slamming himself into the back of the cubicle. If his wakeup was any indication it was going to be a long, hard day.

"You're up early."

Veronica's head jerked up from the text book that she was thumbing through and she forced herself to blink as Duncan readjusted Lilly on his hip and reached for one of the sippy cups that they kept on the counter. "You're not as quiet getting her out of my room as you think you are," she countered, nodding to the child in his arms.

"I didn't sleep that well either." Duncan ignored her excuse and maneuvered the gallon of orange juice out of the fridge without setting anything down. Veronica smiled, awed, as he took the top off the cup and handed it to his daughter. Lilly took it with both hands and clutched it tightly as her father poured it half full of juice and re-secured the top. It was obviously something that they had done dozens of times over the years they were on the run, and yet it seemed so unnatural for Duncan to be doing it. Or maybe it was just that it was _**her**_ Duncan doing it.

"I don't know why." Veronica ran a hand through her hair. "After all, you slept in Dick's room last night didn't you?"

Duncan laughed. "All the more reason for me to sleep like a baby?" He asked quickly, tilting his head to the side and bouncing Lily lightly in his arms. "Have you ever been near Dick when he's asleep?" He pulled a banana from the bowl and peeled it before settling it on the chopping block. Shifting his daughter to his other hip, he quickly cut the fruit into slices and dropped them into a bowl on top of one cartoon characters face or another. He deposited the bowl and the child on the high chair by the counter and leaned against it, as if waiting for an answer.

"Does watching him drink himself into oblivion before passing out count?" She asked off-handedly. "That was pretty much all I got to see of him after Cassidy died." She had to applaud herself on the fact that her voice didn't catch at the mention of Dick's brother. She stopped for a moment and then furrowed her brow. "He doesn't sleep well I take it?"

"As well as I did after Lilly died." Duncan watched his daughter dig into her fruit. He thought for a moment before grabbing another banana.

Veronica tried not to frown again. "Before or after Celeste drugged you?" She asked as casually as possible.

"Before." Duncan said shortly, bending to kiss Lilly on the head. For some reason, talking about his mother was easier to deal with when his daughter was near. "I don't think Dick's had too much time to mourn."

"I think its Dick's guilt that makes it to where he can't." Veronica turned back to her books as footsteps invaded the hall.

"Where is my coffee and why don't I smell French toast?" Logan dropped his cell phone and Rolex onto the counter and readjusted the necklace at his throat before he began to roll up the cuffs of his white button up.

"As I recall, we didn't respond to you the first time you made an entrance like that." Duncan ruffled Lilly's hair and moved over to the table as Logan started up the coffee pot.

Logan pulled three mugs from the cabinet and tried not to laugh. "As I recall, I got laid shortly after." He pulled the milk and creamer from the fridge and tried to balance the mix in the first two cups. Then he added sugar. He placed the items in their respective places and grabbed for his watch. "Those were the days, huh?"

From his place at the table, Duncan sighed. "First sign of code words and I'm swimming back to Australia." He watched Lilly smash banana into the top of her high chair and laughed. "You two can keep the kid."

Pouring coffee into the mugs, Logan whistled. "Now there's a scary thought." He handed one of the sugar filled mugs over the counter to Veronica and then made sure the straight black coffee went to Duncan. "Ronnie and I with a kid."

"Well she'll learn a few life skills," Duncan admitted, trying his hardest not to tell his best friends that they would be the best parents he knew of. After all, they each had one adult in their lives that were the epitome of how _**not**_ to parent. "Lock picking and the art of drinking her weight in three hours."

"Not to mention bugging cells phones and solving murder cases – "

"And the proper way to bang trophy wives during your lunch hour." Veronica took a sip of her coffee and tilted her head to see past Lilly. "Yeah, talk about your model citizens."

Giving up, Duncan stood and moved around Logan. They would probably never see what everyone else saw when they looked at them. "A kid just might do you two good," he said after a moment, ignoring the surprised glare that Veronica was sending his way. He pulled the bread out of the bread box and grabbed a mixing bowl.

Logan bent and kissed Lilly's forehead and smiled. "Maybe it would," he agreed, turning away from Veronica. "But would it do good for the kid?"

Handing his best friend the bowl and spoon, Duncan shook his head. "Not if you're the one teaching her English."

* * *

_9:54 am_

_Tuesday, June 12__th__ 2007_

"Dude, last time I had French toast I was at your old place." Dick tossed his fork at his plate and leaned back in his chair. He'd had at least three helpings and as Duncan dished up the last he joked that Dick and Veronica were trying to see if they could eat each other's weight. Logan had been surprisingly quiet as he manned the stove, humming to whatever song was on the CD that Mac kept changing in the player.

"Dude, last time I saw you awake and sober before ten," Duncan paused and looked at Veronica. "I think you _**were**_ ten."

The room laughed, and Logan was pleasantly surprised to see Mac and Veronica laugh along. Maybe things would work out after all.

"Have you eaten yet?" Logan wasn't too sure when Veronica had made it behind him, but suddenly she was there, laughing when he blinked before turning.

"I've had a few bites." He admitted carefully, using the same policy with his ex that he had learned on the witness stand. Never answer more than asked.

It was a shame that Veronica held on to a point longer than any lawyer known to man. "A few?" She asked with a tilt of her head. She looked at the plates on the table and the clean one off to the side of the range. There was the other half of the muffin that he had put on Lilly's plate almost an hour ago, and seeing as though he had been handling the eggs and pancakes part of breakfast, Veronica knew he hadn't sampled any of those. "I think you need to eat something."

"I think you need to finish your breakfast," he countered, running a hand through his hair and turning back to the pan in front of him.

Duncan watched Logan take a step toward Veronica and shook his head. There was no accurate way to describe the feeling he was getting from his best friend. He wasn't the same guy he had been last night. The one that subconsciously thought about and anticipated Veronica and still managed to keep her at arms length had been replaced with the man that didn't seem to be too afraid of confronting the young detective.

And if that hadn't been surprising enough, Veronica nodded to her ex and turned back to the group. "So, what's on our agenda for the day?"

Wallace laughed and nodded to Logan. "You've got to teach me how to do that," he said with wonder, pointing to the two of them.

"Trust me, you don't want to know." Logan snagged a piece of bacon off of Veronica's plate and popped it in his mouth. "And you know, Ronnie, we don't have to do everything as a group this week." He shook his head when she huffed. "Don't give me that one, there are eight of us, we should be allowed to keep to ourselves a bit."

"Is this one of those arguments that we're going to have to clear the room for?" Mac noticed that all eyes shifted to her for a moment, and contemplated sharing what she knew of the last time Logan and Veronica had a disagreement over food. At least at the Grande there had been housekeeping to clean the floor while Veronica and Logan shared a shower. However her eyes probably couldn't stand that much PDA in one sitting this time around.

Logan shook his head and turned back just long enough to pick the pan up and drop it into the sink. If he left it long enough Parker would probably clean it up for him. It was definitely an experiment worth trying. "You can keep your corneas today Mac." Logan shot over his shoulder before nudging Veronica's rear. "And you can plan you're group activities. DK and I can always lock you in a closet if we think they suck."

She looked offended for only a moment before her smile went into overdrive. "What makes you think you and Duncan are invited to do whatever it is we come up with?" She asked him with a wink, turning to Mac and Parker. "I sense a day of watching chick flicks and eating all of the junk food in the house."

Mac stopped and glanced from Logan to Veronica and back again. "Just as long as they don't feature the male lead jumping off any roofs I think we'll be okay." She joked without laughter. After all, she had seen the collection that the Echolls cabin held. There was more than one that would reduce her to tears before the end.

Logan frowned. "Just watch the Notebook and cry till you pass out," he said decisively. Then as he was trying to gage her reaction, he smiled. Then he looked to where Dick was staring at the bar off to the left of the living room. "We'll just have a guy's day." His face scanned the men in the room and he had to force himself not to grimace when he realized that he just resigned himself to a day with Piz and no Veronica buffer.

* * *

_12:32 pm_

_Tuesday, June 12__th__ 2007_

The girls had commandeered his room.

Logan wasn't sure whether or not he found that annoying. After all, other than the TV in the basement den, his room's was certainly the largest, and his bed the biggest. So in the end they had taken Lilly's play pen up to his room and set up shop. The good news was that it left them to rest of the house. The bad news was that they had taken his room.

And left him with Piz.

That had to be what bothered him the most. Especially since it had apparently been his idea.

He shuffled the cards in his hand and tapped them on the table in front of him. His dream about Lilly the night before had rattled him, even more than he thought she could anymore. And it had been a dream, right? So whatever she said had no true basis in reality. He tapped the cards one more time as he remembered what Lilly had told him.

"Dude? You gonna hand over the cards so Wallace can shuffle?" Logan's eyes popped up from where they were staring at the table and he shook his head when he realized that Duncan had spoken. Now what would he think if Logan admitted that Duncan wasn't the only one to get a visit from his dead sister.

With a quick laugh, Logan relinquished the cards and took a sip of the water that he had brought out with him. How was it that during the most simplistic week of his life, everything was so complicated?

The back door shut and Logan didn't have to look up to make a decent guess as to who was now on the porch.

"Movie day over already?" Duncan quirked an eyebrow and took a sip of his drink.

"Mac's making a new batch of snacks and Parker's on the phone with her parents." Veronica seemed to hop down the steps and frowned at the fact that Logan didn't seem to turn around. After all, it was him that her attention was on. "We're taking a half hour break."

Duncan nodded and picked up the first of the cards that Wallace had dealt.

"Logan?" Veronica stood to the left of the porch, just out of Logan's line of sight. "Have you seen my bag?"

He dropped his cards onto the table and made sure the pretzels from the pot were fully on his side. For the sake of the players without trust funds the pot consisted of snack foods. "Which bag?"

"The one I had earlier with my books in it."

Logan looked to Duncan and then back to the table. "Yes."

The short blond huffed and crossed her arms. "Do you know where it is?"

Again Logan looked to Duncan. Despite his confusion as to where he and Veronica stood, toying with her was just as fun now as it was earlier. "Yes."

Agitated, Veronica moved closer to the table. "Is it in your possession?"

"Yes."

"_**Damn it**_ Logan, where is my bag?"

"No." Logan took his cards from the table and fanned them out. He held up his hand half a second before one hundred pounds of petite blonde settled herself into his lap. He knew that it was coming; he was just amazed that she was resorting to this form of sucking up. "Beg all you want Sugarpuss, you're still not getting it."

"And why not?" Veronica wiggled a little before fully settling into a comfortable position. She hadn't been this close to Logan in months.

It took Logan a moment to blink before his eyes readjusted on his cards over the top of Veronica's shoulder. "You're not studying on vacation," he answered simply, counting his aces.

Veronica took the two and the five out of his hand and laid them on the table. "It's not studying," she returned quickly. "It's – "

"No 'pre-reading' either." He swatted her thigh as she reached for his new cards. "And you're helping the wrong ex. DK's down by a handful of Cheetos."

"I'm working on my comeback." Duncan pulled a chip from the top of Logan's pile and shoved it into his mouth. Munching noisily he checked his watch and groaned. "I've got to start Lilly's lunch."

Logan handed his cards off to Veronica and stood, sliding her into his chair. "Leftovers okay?" Logan asked, picking up his beer bottle. When Duncan nodded Logan slid his open water closer to Veronica's arm and tapped the top of her head with his chin. "Kick his ass." He commanded with a laugh, before moving to the steps.

Half an hour later found everyone at the dining room table, sharing a full lunch of nothing but leftovers. It had amazed everyone when Logan had called them all inside to find the spread already on the table and Lilly in her highchair happily alternating between munching away and talking to her food. He'd even set out drinks for everyone, making sure that it was going to be a non-alcoholic meal. They ate noiselessly for more than a few minutes while Logan patted himself on the back and Veronica nodded lightly.

"I just had a thought."

All attention was on Parker at the end of the table and Logan couldn't help his smirk as he stole the roll off of Wallace's plate. "We're all going to hell?" He asked slowly, tilting his head in mock thought.

Duncan shook his head and held up his fork. "Just you."

"Good to know."

Parker ignored her ex-boyfriend and looked to the rest of the table. "We go around the table and take turns saying a few things we're thankful for."

There was a laugh as Logan wished that he had snuck some vodka into his water glass. The following conversation with everyone would probably be far easier if he had. "I think you've got your holidays confused, Park." He said with a frown.

"And I think you'll agree with me if I threaten to take your scotch." Parker crossed her hands against her chest and tried her hardest to look intimidating. Logan didn't want to point out that her bottom lip was a little too far out and she would probably have better luck threatening the alcohol that he and Duncan hadn't finished off last night, which made him note to that he needed to call down and get a delivery of more.

"Tequila." Veronica's voice caught through his thoughts and drew the attention of the table to herself. She wagged her finger at Logan and then down the table to Dick as her smile widened. "You and the boys don't get to hop the border later if don't play nice."

Logan sniffed and looked at his water glass. Tonight would be a long night if he didn't agree with what everyone was saying. "Fine." He agreed, taking a deep sip of his water, he held it on his tongue and swallowed harshly. "What I'm thankful for…"

"I'll go first." Parker shook her head and there was no way now that she would be able to keep the grin off of her face. "I'm thankful… that you guys brought Piz and me along with you up here. And that some people never give up until she gets her man." Veronica nodded lightly and dropped her eyes to the table when both Duncan and Logan looked her way, the former in interest and the latter discontent. Although Logan couldn't admit that he was proud Veronica had gotten her man, he couldn't stand the fact that she had jumped into the middle of the fray and used herself as bait. "I'm thankful that I've gotten to see what the hype of being the girlfriend of the great Logan Echolls is all about, and that you guys trust me enough with your fugitive secret."

"Dick's the only one we're really worried about." Duncan couldn't shake the feeling that he had missed something integral in Veronica's freshman year of college. Then again, as he shook his head, he realized that her holding something back from him had probably been the norm in high school, so why change that habit now?

Parker just shook her head and took a sip of her tea. "Anyway… Wallace?"

"I'm thankful for a tiny blonde with a pocket knife." His cheeks reddened one last time as he thought of the events that led him to the table he was currently in front of, looking at the hodgepodge of people around him. "And that my BFF makes the best snicker doodles this side of Martha Stewart." Veronica smiled and nodded and he added begging her for some while they were in the cabin to his mental list of things to do. "I'm thankful for basketball scholarships and fake IDs and that Mom and Mr. Mars are back to seeing each other." A quick wink and he nodded to Logan. "I get top bunk."

"Where to start? Where to start?" Veronica forced herself not to roll her eyes when Logan tapped his finger to his chin. His gaze stopped on Duncan and he smiled. "I'm thankful that my father attended the Media Outlet Banquet thirteen years ago. And that my new best friend had a really hot older sister."

"By ten months!" It wasn't amazing that Duncan skipped over the hot comment. That was something he had heard many times as the brother of the illustrious Lilly Kane. No, it was the fact that Logan kept referring to him as the little brother that bothered him.

Veronica laughed and shook her heard. "Somebody's jealous." She sang softly, trying to keep her face straight. They all had their issues with Lilly, and somehow finding out that Duncan was still bothered about the fact that he was the youngest was amazing. When Duncan mumbled under his breath, she cocked her head to the side. "You okay over there Senator Kane?"

With a thin smile on his face, Duncan deadpanned, "Ha. Ha."

"_**I'm**_ not done." Logan nudged his best friends elbow off of the table and huffed exaggeratedly. "I'm thankful for school dances and limo parties and that the local sheriff believes in waiting until I'm sober enough to return me to my parents." He smiled at that memory, going home to the Mars' and being shoved into a shower. Leanne had done her best to Febreeze his tux while he bathed but Logan knew which belt he was getting when he got in. Then again, had he known what he knew now…? "I'm thankful for tape degaussers and exchanging testimony for immunity." He paused and smiled at Veronica. "And that the Grande's elevator goes up to the roof."

Wallace held up his bottle and tipped the mouth toward Logan. "Here! Here!"

"I'll drink to that!" Mac joined the man to her left and took a gulp of her own glass.

Logan didn't have to be looking at her to feel Veronica mouth 'thank you' into her own drink.

He ignored Duncan's confused glare as he turned to his friend and sighed. "Your turn, bro," he decided.

Duncan thought for a moment. He remembered his sister, the first and original Lilly Kane, then his daughter, the Lilly Kane currently poking holes in her mashed potatoes and the differences between the ways the two would grow up. Duncan thought about Logan's limo parties and the school dances and the point in his life where Celeste seemed bearable. "I'm thankful that my mother convinced my father to host the Media Outlet Banquet thirteen years ago." He said with a smile, bumping fists with Logan without looking past his daughter. Then his gaze drifted to another blonde. "And that my hot sister had a really cute best friend."

"That there are absolutely _**no**_ photos available of." Veronica interjected quickly. She groaned as Duncan shook his head.

"I think I have an old one in my wallet." Logan added no where near helpfully. "I think you're in that ridiculously cute pink dress too." His grin only widened when she took a long gulp of her drink. "But that can wait until after lunch." He nodded back to Duncan. "You were saying?"

"_**I **_was saying," Duncan redirected his train of thought and laughed. "I'm thankful that I got to party with Lilly one last time. And that she took the blame for so much so I didn't have to." He could have sworn he heard Logan mumble an 'amen' before taking a sip of his drink. "I'm thankful for the word 'fabulous' and cleverly disguised pseudonyms. For paternity tests and video tapes and that I'm in no way related to anyone at this table over the age of five." Lilly perked up then, and Veronica laughed. She too was going to have to be thankful for the research company that ran the tests to prove Keith Mars was her biological father.

Duncan pulled Lilly from her high chair and swapped his plate for hers. It took her a minute to readjust before slamming her hand back into her food and offering some to her father. "I'm thankful for my father, who still takes care of me after everything. For the Lilly who's here, may she have half the spirit of the Lilly who's not." He paused and kissed the top of his daughter's head. "For Meg," he added softly, not wanting or needing to elaborate. "And for the other half of the Fabulous Foursome, who's shown me time and again that we take care of our own." He looked to Logan, smirking slightly. "Even if we're beating the shit out of each other over the same girl."

"Best to keep problems internal man." Logan laughed and held up his glass, before leveling it at Mac. "You're turn Cindy."

_First things first_, Mac thought, pushing her lasagna around her plate. Veronica was watching her carefully, trying to gage the proverbial nature of the beast. "I'm thankful for the newest OSX upgrade and the rich, computer illiterate bastards who paid for it." Logan snorted as Veronica leaned over to explain to Duncan about Mac's tech support business that they had convinced her to run out of her dorm room. She couldn't help but keep pointing out that Logan seemed to be Mac's best client. "And the writers of Grind Girl Magazine and purity tests. And my car is thankful for the elitist superficial morons willing to pay for their friends' results."

"I'm especially thankful for my seventy." Wallace pointed to a roll down the table and when Veronica picked it up, he shook his head.

"I'll trade your seventy for my fourteen."

Logan took the roll from her and tossed it down the table. "Wonder what you'd score now, Sugarpuss?" He asked with a light drawl, only glancing at her sideways.

"At least her score was faked." Mac pointed out, nodding down the table. "I'm only sure you got your twenty six by yourself." She paused and then pretended to gasp. "Unless you lied about the prowess of the great Logan Echolls." The room went quiet and Mac allowed herself a moment before she took a deep breath. "I'm thankful for friends willing to put aside personal differences to dispense relationship advice." She paused and stabbed her lasagna with her fork. "Even if that friend willingly sold me into Prom Date slavery to retrieve my cell phone interceptor."

"Which wouldn't have gotten confiscated had you not gone all crazed stalker on your ex." Veronica pointed out deftly, without looking at her friend. "Was spying on him _**really**_ worth a night with Butters?"

The brunette sat back and glanced around the table. "Then again, at least I _**had **_a date." She batted her lashes at Veronica and smiled slowly. "I think you were the only one without someone that night."

"You're comparing me being dateless to Dick and the _**party pig**_?" Veronica had to try hard to keep her voice from cracking.

Logan couldn't help but to laugh. "_**Dick **_ended the night with Shelly Pomroy." He pointed out with his fork. "And Veronica didn't need a date –"

"I had something Epic." She finished for him. "And Logan had Kendall."

"Ass slaps and high fives to Logan for banging the hot chick." Duncan deadpanned, raising an eyebrow at Veronica. "Can we just get on with it?"

Mac laughed at the banter of her friends and then bit back a frown when she realized that there were a lot of things she was thankful for that she couldn't say. There was even more that she couldn't say in front of the crew she was sitting with. There weren't many that could understand that even now she couldn't think ill of Cassidy. He had killed people, raped her best friend, jumped off a roof, but he was still Cassidy. The sweet boy that always remembered she was a vegetarian and saved the peppers from his pizza for her. "I'm thankful for thoughtful boyfriends," she said after a moment, trying her hardest not to look at anyone at the table. She had sworn to herself after her encounter with whatever it was out by the pool that she would be honest and that was what she was going to do.

"Winter carnivals and Pizza Quest '06." Mac shook her head and stared at her plate. This had to get out. "I'm thankful for maids and laundry services and Weevil failing Algebra." _Hey, I got an idea: how 'bout you two geniuses go work out your aggression in some coat room, and then come back here and teach me algebra, huh? _She smiled at the memory and then finally looked up at Logan. He was right when he had told her that he understood grief. If she were a betting woman, she would say that he knew more than she did about loving a person and hating them with the same thought. "I'm thankful for liquid courage." Her eyes cast to Dick, and the look that she saw there almost sent her out of her chair. Maybe she wasn't the only one to mourn what could have been. Then there was another part of that night, which she owed to two more people. "And warm showers, and friends who give you the clothes off their backs, physically."

"Anytime, Mackster." Logan said before taking another sip of his drink. He blinked, trying to decide which direction to take the conversation and then laughed at the look that had crossed Piz's face. "Stosh?"

Piz wasn't sure where to start. He was thankful for his parents, but something told him that this wasn't the crowd to get too sentimental with. "I'm thankful that I was accepted to Hearst." He started, "and for Trish Vaugn for giving me my chance on the radio."

"She definitely made the world a better place." Logan quipped as Veronica and Duncan both popped a knee under the table. He bit his lip to keep from cursing and smiled as best as he could. "Sorry." He muttered harshly.

"I'm thankful for Wallace and the 'Friend of a Friend' discount. And that I met a real life renaissance chick." Piz smiled over at Veronica and she returned it in kind. "I guess that's it." He looked around the table and then stopped at Dick. "Uh…Dick?"

There was a part of Dick Casablancas that wished he could make it as cut and dry as Piz and Parker seemed to make it. And then there was the other part that couldn't help but to think about what Duncan and Logan had said and could easily match them in sentiment. "First and foremost to Sony and Nintendo for my Playstation and Wii respectively." He took a sip of his drink and then studied the glass. "To retreats in Roseretto and weak-willed cheerleaders and trips to TJ that end in all you can eat buffets and endless waves." He paused for a moment and sighed. "And I'm thankful for the Hog and all he represents, and the fact that I always have a bed to sleep on and a shoulder when I need it. And that forgiveness comes easy, if not cheap." He looked over at Veronica and she nodded, not quite meeting his gaze. There was a moment when he could feel someone on the other side of the table looking at him and he sighed.

"It helps that you have an AMex Black." Piz chuckled to himself, not realizing that his joke fell unbelievably flat.

Suddenly Logan's previous comment didn't matter anymore, and he shook his head at the shaggy haired boy on the other side of the table. "I think that leaves you Ronnie." Logan said slowly, waiting a beat to make sure that Dick was truly finished. When the blonde nodded, he turned his full attention to Veronica. "You're thankful for…?"

"My dad." The words came out before she could honestly think of anything else. Because to her, no matter what, Keith Mars was first and foremost in her mind. He was the biggest source of inspiration to her as well as the biggest source of frustration. He helped her through all of the toughest parts of her life, and never once did she hear him seriously complain about the fact that she was a difficult child. "I am a chip off the ole Mars block." She paused and looked around the table. "And I'm thankful for Wallace." She threw a nod to her best friend and they both smiled. "For listening when I needed to talk and knowing when I didn't. He's been there for almost all of it, and only disowned me once." Logan laughed at that and Veronica's smile faded ever so slightly. "Q." She said quickly, before she could let the look on Logan's face get to her. "I totally respect the business model now.

"I'm thankful for Lilly." She said at last. "And for the fact that I got to have her in my life, even if it meant pep squad and weeks of trying to get off of being grounded; for Fleet Week and Cabo and strapless red satin." She looked to Duncan and smiled sweetly. "I'm thankful that true love stories never have endings, and first boyfriends are made with infinite patience, and that Celeste Kane is a bitter old hag." It was the only way that she could think of to be thankful that she and Duncan weren't related without saying it for another time.

"And Epic love." She whispered, not even sparing a glance to Logan. "Spanning years and continents, with ruined lives and bloodshed. The most painfully satisfying love anyone could ask for." She stopped there, keeping her eyes on her plate, and Veronica's smile grew.

* * *

_4:47 pm_

_Tuesday, June 12__th__ 2007_

"Epic love, huh?" Veronica's hand shot to cover her eyes from the sun as she refocused her eyes on the man standing to the left of her lounger. She sat up slightly, tucking her feet underneath her to allow her best friend to sit down beside her. "How long'd it take you to think of that one?"

"I didn't," she said carefully, shooting a glance to the pool where Logan was currently tossing Lilly into the air. Duncan sat on the side with Logan's laptop, and Dick was in the floating lounger. Mac had started a game of Scrabble with Piz and Parker and no one was leaving the den until the computer genius won. When she realized that Wallace wasn't likely to stop staring at her until he got some sort of explanation, she sighed. "Logan did."

Sadly that wasn't the explanation that he was expecting. "Logan did?" He asked, looking out to the pool. "And when was this?"

"The night of the Anti-Prom." Veronica shrugged. "I think it was Logan's way of telling me that we're meant to be together." She looked up to see Wallace glaring at her. "What?"

"Its shit like this that makes me want to turn in the BFF Card." He crossed his arms over his chest and shook his head. "Your ex expresses his undying Epic Love for you at a party and I don't hear about it for two years?"

Veronica laughed as she tilted her head to throw her own glare at him. "I would have called you right after he tried to kiss me and I ran away. But then I remembered you had gotten your own room with Jackie and decided it would be best to let you be." Her chuckle only got louder when Wallace almost choked on his drink. "Besides, the next morning I found him nursing his hangover with Kendall and the rest became a moot point."

"So much for Epic." Wallace agreed.

"And what do you think of True Love?" Wallace almost knocked himself off the chair when he heard the voice behind his head.

Veronica only smiled. "Bubblegum sweet," she decided after a second. "And – "

"Never supposed to last." Duncan agreed with a nod. "Isn't that the way most first loves wind up?"

"Then there's the fact that you're a fugitive living in Australia with your two year old daughter," she added helpfully, pointing to the pool. Lilly was using Logan as a horse now, and it seemed like both of them were enjoying it. "Kind of puts a damper on things."

"You don't do long distance?" Duncan's smirk was visible even through the frown he adopted at the start of the conversation.

She cocked her head to the side again and pretended to think. "I prefer to be emotionally abused from the same zip code." She decided, pointing at him with the finger she had been tapping against her lips.

Duncan just laughed as Wallace tried to follow. "I'm too good for you. It's okay, you can admit it."

"In your dreams. Donut." Veronica spit the name out before she could think twice about it, and when Duncan's eyes widened with his smile, she knew it was probably the wrong thing to say.

"Did you?" Duncan laughed as he set his beer down. "Did you just call me Donut?"

"Logan's been calling you that all week," she tried to point out, knowing that backtracking was going to get her nowhere. "It was – "

Duncan shot Wallace a disapproving glance and turned back to Veronica. He grabbed a hold of her thigh as she tried to pull her legs in closer to herself. "Duncan, no."

"What was that Veronica?" Duncan had a firm hold of one thigh and her hip now. He lifted her from the chair and moved to the pool. "I didn't hear you."

Even as she thrashed in his arms, Veronica knew that it was useless to fight him. For one, Duncan had at least seventy-five pounds on her, most of which was pure muscle. And two, there wasn't a person out there by the pool that was willing to help her. Even Wallace was laughing at the fact that she had a one way ticket into the pool. "Duncan!" She shouted, trying to wiggle her way out of his grip anyway. "Duncan Jacob put me down!"

They had Logan's attention now as he pulled Lilly closer to him and moved to the steps of the pool. "Just watch the deep end," he said quickly, pointing to Dick and then to the bottom of the pool. Duncan nodded and Logan waved his hand in continuance.

"Logan!" Veronica's voice was shrill now as she whipped her head around to glare at her other ex-boyfriend. She threw a glance over to Wallace, who was now clapping and managed to get a hand out to point. "You are _**so**_ in trouble," she vowed, turning her gaze back to Logan. "You too."

Duncan's laugh was almost maniacal now as he stepped to the edge of the pool and launched her, still flailing, into the pool.

When she surfaced, she could hear the clapping. Fully prepared to wail at whoever it was, Veronica turned and zeroed in on the noise, only to find Lilly Kane clapping and giggling. She held her arms out to her father and giggled. "Again!" She demanded, pointing to the water. "Daddy! Again!"

There was no stopping the laughter bubbling from Logan's throat as he clapped his hands over Lilly's. "The princess wants more." He looked over to Veronica and his grin only grew.

"She's a Lilly all right." Veronica held her hands out as she moved closer to the steps. "She says more."

Logan watched Veronica as he loosened his grip on Lilly's waist. "Ready baby?" He asked slowly, leaning in and allowing Veronica enough time to get closer. Lilly giggled and clapped her hands. "Okay?" He didn't toss her so much as push her, and her legs never came out of the water, but when Veronica caught her easily, wrapping one hand around her waist and the other supporting her bottom. Lilly laughed and clapped and looked up at her father for approval.

"And you two say you're not good with children." Duncan dropped down into the pool and held his hands out for his daughter. His daughter squealed as Veronica pushed her into the safety of her father's arms.

"It's easy with that one." Logan said after a second. "We just assume she wants everything."

Duncan ran his hand over his daughter's hair and kissed her temple. "She's got too much of her aunt in her." He nodded. "Maybe that's why I don't worry too much about her."

"Maybe that's why you should." Veronica looked to Logan one more time and then held her hands out again for Lilly. The child in question clapped and laughed and held her hands out to the next person to entertain her.

* * *

_6:27 pm_

_Tuesday, June 12__th__ 2007_

She hadn't spent too much time in her room since their arrival. It was one of the first things Veronica noticed when Duncan and Piz had banished her from the kitchen when it came time for making dinner. Logan had been sent to his room as well, but Veronica didn't want to trap herself in with him. Things were complicated enough as it was. The knocking on her door startled her out of her internal monologue, and Veronica's head shot up to the sound. Another knock, and Veronica realized that maybe they wouldn't go away.

"Come in?"

The door opened with a crack, and Parker slid into the room, sliding the door shut behind her. It took her a moment to look around the room before she readjusted her eyes to the lack of light and located Veronica on the bed. "I know they said that you and Logan were to be exiled until dinner, but I wanted to talk."

It took Veronica a moment to comprehend what the blonde was saying, and then she was scooting over on the bed to make room for her female friends' roommate. "Okay." She said after a moment. "We can talk."

"There was something else I wanted to be thankful for at lunch." Parker started, wishing that Veronica would either stop looking at her like she had grown a third eye or just stop looking at her all together. "I'm thankful to you."

Veronica shook her head. "You said that at the table." She pointed out leaning against the pillows. "Mercer's in jail, the Pi Sig's have been exonerated, it's all in a days work and you don't have to thank me for that."

"I'm not thanking you again for Mercer." Parker said harshly, shifting on the bed. "I'm thanking you. You gave me Logan."

She couldn't help but laugh. "Logan?" She asked after a second, trying to figure out where Parker was going with all of this. "The boyfriend you broke up with because you thought he was still in love with me?" Her head shook even as laughed again. "How is that something to thank me for?"

"I got a chance with a guy who devoted himself almost completely to me." She ran a hand over her hair and smiled. She and Logan had been over months ago, jealousy wasn't an issue anymore. What he and Veronica had was something that no one seemed to be able to come between, and it took her meeting Duncan Kane and his daughter to realize that it ran deeper than just the two of them. But it was Veronica who wasn't seeing the silver lining in the cloud that she had been dealt. "After I had been raped, Logan taught me that I can still be me. And that there are still a few decent guys left in the world. You have no idea how wonderful that was for me, no matter the outcome."

There was a wry smile on Veronica's face as she nodded. "You'd be surprised," she whispered, almost to herself.

"And it wouldn't have happened if you hadn't said it could."

Those were words that Veronica almost choked on. "Don't say that," she said emphatically. "It wasn't me."

"Yes it _**was**_." Parker scooted closer to Veronica and smiled. "Logan wouldn't have asked me out and I damn sure wouldn't have said 'yes' if you hadn't given the okay."

"It wasn't me." Veronica said again, shaking her head so hard a few tendrils of hair fell from her bun. "I swear to you it wasn't. I don't control Logan like that, and if you truly wanted to be with him, I couldn't have stopped you if I wanted to." She puffed the hair away from her face and stood, moving over to the picture window that overlooked the side of the cliff. "I'm not special Parker, no matter what anyone out there will tell you.

"I'm a social pariah with a switchblade who had the decency to cut a new student down off of a flag pole my junior year of high school and get him out of trouble. I'm the exiled ex of two of the most popular guys to ever walk the halls of Neptune High who plants bongs in lockers and bugs in phones." The woman in front of Parker was certainly not the woman that everyone thought of when they thought of Veronica Mars. She wasn't the confident sassy woman who solved two murder cases and caught a rapist before graduating college. This was someone else entirely, and Parker had the sinking suspicion that there were only a few people to ever see this side of Veronica Mars. "I graduated at the top of my class because that was all I had left after Lilly died and Duncan left and all of the high school bull shit that Logan and I put each other through." She stopped and turned finally, watching Parker as she scrambled to try to figure out what to say to her. "I'm just a lost girl who clings to what I know and what I learned from others to make it through the day."

No one had heard the door open again. The two girls were equally as shocked when it shut again and Duncan was leaning against the jam with his arms crossed against his chest. "You ever think that's _**why**_ you're special?" He asked after a second, looking at Veronica and smiling slowly. "Lilly used to say that Logan scared the shit out of her sometimes, the way he looked at life. Do you remember why?"

"She used to say that damaged people are dangerous." The phrase hadn't made sense to Veronica the first time she had heard it. At age twelve not too many people acknowledge the signs of abuse. They aren't too keen on recognizing them at fifteen either, when their best friend tries too hard to cover it up.

Duncan on the other hand, knew the signs a little too well. He had shielded his friend whenever, and however he could. He knew far too well how and why Lilly had come up with that sentence. And it was true. Damaged people were dangerous. "They know they can survive," he answered Parker's questioning gaze with a frown and shook his head. "You've survived. And that's why we love you."

Veronica shook her head as Parker nodded. "I'm no one special." She bit her lip and looked directly into Duncan's eyes.

He opened the door again, without breaking eye contact. "Whatever you say Ronica." He stepped to the side and motioned to the hall. "Dinner's ready," he announced.

Parker smiled and turned to the other blonde in the room. "Thank you again," she said gently.

"Don't mention it." Veronica almost turned back to the window before Duncan opened his mouth. "And neither will you."

Duncan bumped her hip and kissed the top of her head. "Love you too."


	7. Chapter 6

This chapter moves a little strangely. It starts out in the morning, then it jumps back in time, only to return to present. I did it on purpose; you just have to watch the times now.

* * *

**Chapter Six: **

_7:19 am_

_Wednesday, June 13th, 2007_

Breakfast at the cabin had become a lavish ritual over the five days that they were confined together. This particular morning, Logan was up long before the rest of the house, stepping over the bodies of two of the four remaining men in the house on his way around his bed and flipping the television off before closing the door to head down to the first level. He skipped the last two steps on purpose, thankful that he was wearing socks and moved around the one squeaky floorboard on his way into the kitchen.

He flipped on the coffee pot and pulled out the bowl that he used for French toast and then stopped. Out on the patio, curled into a ball on a lounger was the one person he expected to be tucked safety in bed.

As slowly as possible, Logan opened the back door. He didn't want to startle her but the closer he got to the lounger and the pool, the more he realized that the brunette wasn't moving.

And that her eyes were wide open.

"Mac?" Logan took a step towards the lounger and dropped his hand to the armrest. He crouched a little, coming face to face with the computer tech before shaking his head. "Mackenzie?"

Her eyes shut quickly, only to reopen to readjust to the light. It hadn't been this bright when she had first gone outside. "Logan?" She asked after a second, swallowing quickly. "What are you doing out here? What time is it?"

"A little after seven," Logan told her with a look to his watch. "And I was about to ask you the exact same question."

"Couldn't sleep." Mac pulled herself off of the lounger and Logan didn't miss the way her eyes cut to the diving board. "I needed to clear my head."

He turned, shaking his head, and laughed. "And is your head clear?"

"I definitely have a new perspective on things."

* * *

_2:48 am_

_Wednesday, June 13__th__ 2007_

"_Before you say it, you're not dead_." Mac whirled around at the sound of a voice behind her and her confusion only grew as the voice was suddenly across the patio, on the other side of the pool. "_And this isn't a dream_…" Mac turned slower this time and had to bite back the laugh that bubbled up to the surface when she recognized the person standing in front of her. "…_exactly_."

It wasn't the person that seemed to confuse her, or the fact that she could have sworn when she sat down in the lounger a few minutes ago she was alone. It was everything and nothing about the situation she was in. "Excuse me?"

The blonde looked at her expectantly before laughing herself. "_That's__a__first_," she said quickly, moving around to the side of the pool with the steps. And it definitely was. The last time she had surprised someone like this was almost a year after her death.

"Wait." Mac held up a hand and blinked. "You're Lilly Kane."

"_And__you're Cindy Mackenzie_." Lilly tiptoed into the water on the top step and then turned her head back to the confused brunette. "_I didn't expect that we'd need nametags_."

Mac shook her head in a negative and then looked down at the pool. "What am I doing here?" She asked herself quietly. She had come down to the pool of her own volition, this wasn't a dream. And furthermore, even if this was, why was she seeing Lilly. "What are _**you**_ doing here?"

For half a moment, Lilly was almost offended. "_Who else did you expect to haunt your dreams_?" There was a moment of dawning and then Lilly smiled sheepishly. "…_Oh, right. Yeah, he couldn't make it_." Another moment and Lilly seemed to weigh her words. "_And I wouldn't expect him to anytime soon_."

"What?" Mac's shock was almost palpable. "What happened to Cassidy?"

This was the part of the job that Lilly hated. More so then when she was trying to steer her brother and Veronica into finding her killer. "_I wish I could tell you_," she said carefully, weighing each word before it came out of her mouth. "_I wish I could tell you that there is a Heaven and that he's there and safe_." She blew a breath out of her mouth and took her feet out of the water. "_Hell, I wish I could tell you there's a Hell and that he's roasting next to Aaron Echolls and Thumper. It would be something at least. Something concrete_." Lilly's attention caught on something just out of Mac's sight in the dim light and she shook her head to try to clear it. "_Truth is it's up to you_."

Mac was starting to realize that Logan had been telling the truth in more ways then one. Lilly Kane was the most fascinating girl she would ever see. And the most confusing. "Me?" She asked, starting to stand. "I – "

"_Not__what you're thinking Mackie_." Lilly moved closer to the petite brunette and flipped her hair over her shoulder. "_Heaven, hell, purgatory, limbo; they're all a state of mind_." Her nose wrinkled out of habit when she noticed the beer bottles stacked next to the steps that lead up to the porch, and then turned. Dick and his drinking problems weren't on her list of things to take care of. It wasn't like she could say much to him anyway. No, his salvation would have to take another form, right now Lilly had more important things to think of. "_Where you end up is entirely up to who you are, were, and where you ought to be_." She stopped, a few feet from Mac, and held out her hands. "_Me? I'm here because I can be_." She pointed to the house with a manicured finger. "_And I'm needed here_."

"Why is it you?" Mac still hadn't made it more then a step away from the lounger she had been sitting on. "I don't need you. I need him. Why isn't _**he**_ here?"

"_You're not ready_," she said simply, shaking her hair free of the loose braid that she wore. "_And if we're being perfectly honest here, neither is he_."

The look Mac gave Lilly was one of confusion and hurt all rolled into one. "_Beaver killed nine people, fourteen if you count the five on Woody's plane_." Lilly dropped onto a lounger and leaned back to look at the stars. There was a look of detachment on her face that Mac had seen a few times on the former teen queen. She turned from the blonde and then her eyes shot back to Lilly's green ones when she sat upright again. "_He raped Veronica_." Lilly pointed out harshly. "_He orchestrated Curly Moran's murder, and if weren't for Logan, it would have been Veronica's body that Sheriff Lamb had coroners pull off of that Town Car at the Grande a year ago_." She turned to the brunette and shook her head. "_Do you really think he can face you after all of that_?"

She'd never really thought of that. After everything that had been done, Mac had never thought that one of the reasons why Cassidy threw himself off of the roof wasn't because he couldn't deal; it was because he couldn't face seeing everyone else try to. Dick, Logan, herself, they all would have defended him to the death if he had ever been accused, but to find out that the person that they thought they knew so well was capable of something so hideous…

"_Anyone ever tell you that you get the same look Ronica does when she finally grasps something_?" Lilly was sitting on the diving board now, the same way that Mac had seen Logan and Duncan do over the last few days. One leg was on each side of the board, her bare feet dragging in the water as she peered down at the cuffs of the jeans that she'd rolled up. "_Then again, her look comes from Duncan._" Lilly didn't seem to be paying Mac the least bit of attention. Instead she swirled her toes in the water and lifted her eyes to the pre-dawn air. "_This is the first one of these I've done where I get to enjoy the outdoors_."

Mac laughed at that. It was an absurd noise considering the situation. "Do these often?" She asked after a second.

Lilly thought about it for a moment and shook her head. "_Not so much anymore_," she answered honestly. "_Kinda went out of style for a while_."

Mac dropped her own feet into the water and flinched when she realized how cold it had gotten. "Can't imagine why," she said bitterly.

"_If you're going to mock me you're going to have to do better than that_." Lilly stood finally and shook one foot to relieve it of the droplets of water.

"Why are you here again?" Mac still hadn't stood, choosing instead to lean back and brace her palms against the concrete. "Not the abstract, right now. Why are you here?" Lilly opened her mouth, and then promptly shut it. "And why is it you? Cassidy's not ready? Oh big deal! We all have to do things we're not ready for!"

"_Like learn we're switched at birth_?" Mac's mouth opened and shut as Lilly shook her head and turned to the house. "_Or find out that we had a biological father out there that we never knew about, or that our father killed our girlfriend_?" Lilly looked back at Mac and shook her head. "_Bet you didn't think about that, did you? It's the same for him_."

The patio seemed to still as Mac pulled her bottom lip between her teeth. "He hurt a lot of people," she said slowly.

"_And he needs you to forgive him just as much as you need him to forgive you for not seeing it sooner_." They're eyes locked from across the pool and Lilly nodded. "_Would you believe me if I told you I know just how you feel?_"

There was a laugh, warmer then the one before as Mac kicked her legs in the water. "Not really."

"_I expected that_." Lilly dropped her foot into the water again her eyes drifted to the bedroom window that led to Logan's room, the room that her little brother and Dick had passed out in that night. "_I hurt them_." She said after a second. "_Logan, Duncan, Ronica; I toyed with each one of them, and as long as I was alive I didn't care about the consequences_." There was a moment when Lilly couldn't believe that the words were coming out of her mouth. She was spilling her mind to a girl that she would definitely have made fun of if she knew she existed back in high school. "_Then Aaron bashed my head in, and I realized that maybe these people__were better off without me_." Her eyes glazed to the side and the thing she kept looking at came in to focus for her again, even if Mac couldn't quite make it out. "_And that's exactly how you feel. Like maybe Cassidy's life would have ended up differently if you hadn't been there_?"

Lilly laughed to herself again and kept her eyes from looking back to the computer tech. "_Trust me, he feels the same way. Like you and Dick would have been fine without him_." She nodded. "_That you __**should**__ be fine without him_." She stood and brushed imaginary lint off of the top of her tank top. "_Forgive him, forgive yourself, and move on_," she said at last, looking at Mac stepping off the diving board. "_Best piece of advice I can give you at this point_." She stepped onto the diving board again and smiled. "_Well that, and never have sex on the beach. Sand gets everywhere_."

Mac was laughing even as she realized tears were running down her cheeks. She wiped her eyes with the back of her hands and when she looked back up, Lilly was gone.

* * *

_7:18 am_

_Wednesday, June 13__th__ 2007_

Logan dropped the plate of eggs onto the counter just to watch Mac's eyes shoot up to him. "You okay there Mac?"

"If I ask you a question, will you answer it honestly?"

He poured her a glass of juice and smiled. "I'll do my best," he promised as he capped the juice and turned to put it back in the fridge. "Unless it involves me and Ronnie. On that you're on your own."

"Do you ever see Lilly?"

Logan stopped dead.

Juice in one hand, door to the refrigerator in the other, Logan wasn't sure whether or not to start laughing or crying. He repeated the question in his mind before dropping the juice onto the shelf and turning back to the brunette at the counter. "Do I ever see Lilly?" He asked almost absently.

"Lilly Kane?" Mac was eyeing the pool again, trying to decide whether or not she was asleep or awake, and watching Logan look at her as if she had grown a third eye wasn't helping her at all. "Your dead ex-girlfriend?" If he hadn't been watching her, he wouldn't have noticed that her voice hiccupped over the word dead.

He could have lied to her. That would have been the easiest thing to do. After all, he hadn't said a thing to anyone about the busty blonde visiting him the night before. "Why are you asking about Lilly?" He asked instead, trying to read her face even as she frowned.

"I'm trying to decide if I'm going crazy." Mac took one bite of her eggs and dropped her fork onto the counter.

"You're seeing dead people?" His tone held the same solemn tone it held when he and Duncan had talked about the Kane heir's afternoon visitor. "What's he saying to you?" Logan didn't have to say Cassidy's name for it to be implied. He had gotten so used to referring to his former buddy in as vague of term as possible after the night at the Grande.

Mac took a deep breath and shook her head. "Nothing," she said finally, recalling Lilly's words with perfect clarity. Cassidy wasn't ready to see her yet. Maybe it was better that way. "It wasn't Cassidy."

Again Logan stopped. "She has _**got**_ to stop," he muttered harshly, pouring himself some coffee and holding the carafe up as if to ask Mac If she wanted any. The brunette shook her head and Logan had to keep from shouting Lilly's name. Whatever it was she said had made an impression on the tech. "At least tell me she didn't tell you that you needed to date Veronica."

Mac's laughter was a thing Logan hadn't heard in a while, and he smiled when he realized how absurd his question was. "No," she said after a moment. "I can safely say that she doesn't want me and Veronica to become bosom buddies anytime soon."

"Good to know." Logan chomped down on a piece of toast and watched his friend take another bite of her eggs. "What'd she say?"

"Same thing you did actually." Her eyes met Logan's and she nodded. "That I needed to forgive, and move on."

"Two things that I would not equate with Lillian Kane." Logan laughed when he realized that the thought had crossed Mac's mind as well. "But the advice is still good, you should listen to it."

There was the sound of a door shutting and Mac and Logan pulled further away from each other as Duncan slid into the room, baby monitor attached to his hip. "What's good advice?" He asked sleepily, running a hand over his head. Sleeping on the floor wasn't nearly as fun as it had been the night before. Then again, he hadn't shared the floor with Dick until last night.

"Moving on," Logan said simply, handing his friend a mug of coffee. There was absolutely no reason he could think of why Duncan should know that Lilly was dream-hopping. At least not until she made the reasons for her visits known.

* * *

_10:03 am_

_Wednesday, June 13__th__ 2007_

"This place is sweet." Piz strolled back into the kitchen; hair still wet and dropped his socks on the chair next to him. He looked at Mac as he pulled one foot into his lap to slide on the sock. "And the stereo in the bathroom? Coolest thing ever."

Logan shot a glare over to Duncan and shook his head. "It's just another service offered by Chez Echolls." He held up the plate of eggs and smiled when Mac was the only one to take him up on the offer. "Hey D?" Duncan's head shot up and Logan smiled before returning to the conversation Piz interrupted. "I was thinking that we should hit Mom's French home before school starts." He stuck a piece of bacon in his mouth and tried to smile. He had kept that particular piece of property for the sheer reason that he didn't know how to part with something his mother had put so much time into, and while he and Duncan were talking about living it up, he might as well make use of it.

"We could." Duncan dropped another piece of bacon onto Lilly's plate and picked his empty plate up. "Then again there's the Kane place in the Alps if you're up for skiing."

Piz stopped and coughed, open mouthed. "You guys had it made." He asked after a second.

There was a second as Duncan looked up from his daughter and raised an eyebrow. "Excuse me?" He asked quickly.

"Did you guys not hear yourselves? A place in France, a _**ski**_ house?" Piz dropped both sock clad feet onto the hard wood floor and laughed. "You guys spent all of your lives hob knobbing with the rich and famous, wanting nothing." He leaned back in his seat. "I would have killed for that kind of life growing up."

"Really?" Logan was glad he at least had the frame of mind to take the pot off of the stove before he slammed his mug on the counter. "Because Duncan's sister was _**killed**_ for that kind of life. My girlfriend was _**killed**_ for that kind of life. And my father, the great Aaron Echolls_** killed**_ for that kind of life." He growled and ran a hand over his head. "Not to mention the pills and the alcohol and the fact that I can't remember a day between the ages of seven and fifteen when I didn't get beaten because my father felt that I wasn't good enough for the lifestyle that you would have killed for." There was another pause before Logan threw the towel from over his shoulder at the sink and slammed out of the room.

* * *

"Not that I'm one to lecture, but you want to explain to me why you just verbally assaulted Wallace's roommate?" Duncan watched as Logan propelled himself onto the front porch and slammed both arms into the railing. His blonde friend shook his head and stared out over the yard, desperate to try to pull more air into his lungs then he was expelling. 

Had he not known that giving Duncan a straight answer would result in a longer lecture, Logan would probably have answered him. "If I say no are you gonna drop it?" He finally let go of the banister and leaned back against it, facing his friend.

Duncan shook his head. "Probably not." He watched Logan pace the length of the porch and stopped, reached his hand into this pocket and tossed Logan the antique cigarette case that Lilly had bought him the birthday before she died. She had warned him that he wasn't allowed to be a man until he'd smoked at least one cigarette that day. Duncan was just glad that he'd started carrying it around after the incident with Keith. "Come on man, you've been on edge for two days. Talk to me."

"I just don't like the guy." He couldn't help the shudder that came when he reminded himself of all of the reasons why he couldn't stand Stosh Piznarski. "He shouldn't have been allowed on this trip to begin with."

"We all agreed that it looked less suspicious if everyone got to come." Duncan tossed Logan his Zippo and watched as Logan fluidly lit the cigarette and pocketed both items of contraband. They'd worry about Veronica later. If it kept Logan from pummeling Piz, Duncan would have lit the cigarette himself. "Piz, Parker, even Dick is here for more than one reason." He leaned against the railing himself and crossed his arms against his chest.

"Dick lost a brother." Logan pointed out. "He has just as much right to be here as you, me or Ronnie."

"That he does." Duncan nodded in agreement and looked back to the house. "You feel better?"

Logan just chuckled.

* * *

Mac shifted a look to look at Wallace's roommate and shrugged. "_**That**_ was brilliant." She told him harshly, dropping her fork to the table and leveling her gaze at him. "You couldn't have picked another person in the cabin to annoy the shit out of?" She waited a beat and then stood, picking up her plate and heading to the sink. The plate hit the countertop with a clink and she rinsed out her glass. 

A bag hitting the floor announced the arrival of a new person, and both of the people already in the room turned. Veronica ran a hand over her wet hair as she bent to kiss the top of Lilly's head. "I could have sworn that Duncan and Logan were down here?"

"They're out on the porch," Mac told her quickly. "It was getting too hot in here for Logan."

Even though Mac hadn't come out and said that Piz had pissed Logan off, Veronica could have guessed it. She threw a look at Piz over the top of the toddler's head and smiled.

* * *

_1:42 pm_

_Wednesday, June 13__th__ 2007_

There were more then a few confused faces when Post-Its shaped like pink flowers started turning up all over the house. Each was personalized and contained a simple message with a smiley face. When following the instructions, each of the eight people in the house wound up in the front yard, a drink in each hand, to discover a blanket and a picnic basket and a few pillows spread out. Parker just happened to be the only one sitting on the blanket.

"Okay, I'll bite." Duncan set his drinks down and laughed as Parker set Lilly up with some of her toys on a separate blanket closer to the porch. "Why in the hell was there a sticky note in my book?"

Parker held up a rather large oval flower vase and a pad of paper and just smiled. "I've got another game," she told the group informatively. Piz was the first to plop down on the blanket while Mac and Veronica just eyed each other over the top of the brunette's head.

"Didn't we play this game at a party once?" Logan dug his keys out of his pocket and dropped them in the vase. "Although I think the pickings were better back then."

Even as she fished Logan's keys out of the vase and threw them at him with one hand, Parker began handing out pens with the other. "Not quite Heff," she warned him quickly. "This one involves no clothing loss."

"So what are we doing?" Mac dropped herself onto the blanket next to her roommate and twisted the cap off of her soda.

"It's a game that we used to play on the first day of church camp when I was younger." Parker handed a pen off to every person in the group and then passed around scraps of notebook paper. "It's really kind of simple. Everyone writes down two things about themselves that they think no one knows. A favorite color, old fear, current love interest, and then fold the paper and drop it in the vase." Parker picked up one of her pieces of paper and flipped it around quickly; allowing everyone to see that she had written on it, just not read what was on it. "Then we take turns drawing paper from the vase and guessing who the person it's describing. The person with the most correct guesses doesn't have to do any chores for the rest of the day."

"This should be interesting." Logan flipped his pen in the air as he dropped his drinks to the ground with a slow thud. He bit the cap off of the pen and studied the paper. "Two things no one knows about me?"

"Shoe size and Social don't count." Duncan said easily, folding up his first piece of paper and nodding to their mutual ex-girlfriend. "I've got a hundred bucks that says Ronica's memorized those already."

Veronica threw her pen cap in the direction of her first boyfriend and shook her head. "Very funny," she scoffed, before dropping her two pieces in the vase and rattling off a string of numbers.

The laugh that escaped from Duncan's lips was equal parts mirth and amazement. "And you need Lilly's Social why?"

"You never know when you need something." Veronica leaned back against Wallace's knee and smiled. "I'm a wealth of knowledge in case of emergencies."

"Just makes me glad I've never let her handle my credit cards." Logan handed his pieces off to Parker and twisted the top off of his first beer. "Although somehow I don't think that's stopped her."

"Everyone done?" Parker held up the vase so any slackers could drop in their entries and then she put a hand over the top and shook the papers. She dropped the vase into the middle of the group and then looked around. "Who wants to go first?"

Piz dropped his hand into the vase and pulled out a piece of paper, unfolding it and glancing over the words carefully. "When I was twelve, I almost got kicked out of summer camp for alcohol possession."

The entire group seemed to turn to look at Logan as one, and the reformed bad boy just laughed. "Why in the name of God does everyone automatically assume it's me?" He asked harshly, trying to force the grin off of his face.

"Gee," Mac nodded to Logan's beer. "I don't know, Echolls."

Logan took a long swig and smiled, locking eyes with Duncan. "Well for once, everyone's completely wrong." He pointed over to the youngest of the Kane siblings and laughed. "That honor belongs to the Donut over there."

All eyes swiveled to Duncan and he choked on his drink. "It was the last summer Mom sent us to Camp Seafarer. Lilly snuck the booze into her tent and I was trying to keep her from being caught." Veronica whistled and Duncan laughed. "It kept her nose clean and I only got a slap on the wrists."

"Until Lilly got caught with one of the camp counselors." Logan smiled fondly, swigging from his bottle and laughing.

"Ever think that was why she stopped going to camp?" Veronica joined in on the laughing and pointed to the bowl. "You knew the answer, so it's your turn to pull from the bowl."

Logan made a show of rolling up his sleeve to put his hand in the vase and then pulled a single piece of paper out and unfolded it. The handwriting was one that he wasn't immediately recognized, so it eliminated the two blondes and the rich boys. "I wanted to be a ballerina when I grew up." He threw a grin at Mac and raised an eyebrow.

"No," she said flat out. "I don't think so."

Veronica snatched the paper out of Logan's hand and held it so she and Duncan could look at it. Again, she drew a blank. "You sure this isn't you Mac?" She asked after studying the words. There was something weird about the way the words were written on the page. It was almost like it was written by one of the guys in the group.

From his place on the other side of the blanket, Wallace just laughed. The conversation jumped from Parker to Mac and back and finally there was more than one person at the blanket who realized that he was laughing.

"Wallace?" Veronica tilted her head and smiled.

"Hey, I just liked the word. I didn't know what it was." There were giggles around the blanket and Wallace joined in on the laughter once more. "Mom thought it was cute."

"I'm sure that's not all Alicia thought." Logan choked on his drink and set the bottle down. "A ballerina? What turned you off? The tights?"

Wallace's grin did not diminish. "The tutu," he said after a second, opening his own drink. "I couldn't understand why anyone would want to wear something so frilly." He took a hold of the bowl and winked at Veronica. "Score one for the sidekick." He joked as he fished a piece of paper out of the bowl. "I know all of the words and choreography to 'I feel pretty,'" he read off the paper skeptically. When the rest of the blanket stared at him blankly he held up the paper and shrugged. "It's what it says."

"Anyone feeling particularly pretty right now?" Logan asked with a laugh, leaning back on his elbows and taking another swig of his drink.

Everyone else on the blanket just stared at each other.

"We could do this logically," Veronica decided, looking around the blanket before pointing to Wallace. "I know for a fact that Wallace hadn't seen West Side Story until Mac and I took him to the drama department's production in March," she started quickly, seeming to mark Wallace off some imaginary list in her head.

"Mac seemed to know it pretty well." Wallace tossed out, pointing to the computer nerd.

Mac shook her head. "Not as well as some it seems," she vetoed quickly.

"Veronica?" Duncan looked over to her and smiled. "You and Lilly seemed to like West Side Story when you were younger."

"Lilly just like the fact that the good girl sleeps with the bad boy," Logan threw out casually, stealing from the bag of chips that Dick had brought out.

Duncan nodded absently and then looked around to the rest of the occupants. "Parker?" He asked. "You wouldn't happen to be our mystery performer?"

She seemed to think about it for a second before shaking her head. "Nope," she answered. "I know the songs, but I've never seen it. And I don't do choreography."

"Which brings us down to three," Veronica huffed.

"And all male," Logan quipped back, blinking sweetly. "Come on Ronnie, which one of us is it?" She stared blankly at the three remaining and before she could huff out that she didn't know, Logan's hand raised slightly. "West Side Story was one of Mom's favorites," he answered Veronica's questioning gaze and then shrugged, looking up at the clouds. "Trina and I must have seen it at least a dozen times when Mom would have to go to New York for contract meetings and photo shoots. We used to dance around the penthouse whenever Mom was in the mood." His eyes watered and he shrugged, trying to shake off the mood. "My turn?" He reached into the bowl and drew out a piece of paper, smiling as he read it. "I wanted to be a famous equestrian when I grew up," he read with a girlish lilt to his voice. "And why didn't you?" He asked Parker off-handedly.

"I forgot I told you that." The blonde blushed and laughed slightly. "My horse broke his leg before the finals and I couldn't ride another." She reached to the bowl and her blush seemed to disappear. "Michelangelo was my favorite Ninja Turtle?" She asked with a pause.

Duncan's laugh could probably have been heard all the way down to the next cabin. He looked to Logan, and then to Veronica and back again. "It was the pizza, wasn't it?" He asked Veronica off-handedly.

She looked around sheepishly before laughing herself. "I just liked the color orange," she said stubbornly. "It had nothing to do with his appetite."

"Veronica Mars liked the ninja turtles?" Wallace almost choked on his drink as he set the bottle down and glared at his friend. "You couldn't have told me that when we first met? Your cool points would have skyrocketed."

"I prefer to save my new friends asses from evil bikers," she said off handedly. "And cartoon preferences never came up in our original conversations."

"Still," Wallace huffed. "That's something a brother needs to know."

"Your turn Duncan."

"The first concert I ever went to was Sesame Street Live."

Wallace laughed. It was an enormous noise that forced Veronica and Mac to chuckle as well. "Stosh," he guessed with gusto, pointing at his roommate. "Who else would brag about seeing Big Bird sing?" Wallace cocked his head to the side and laughed at the look that Piz gave him as he shoved his hand into the bowl. "The first time I shaved my legs I was thirteen," he read, still laughing.

"Really now?" Duncan raised both eyebrows and smiled. "And I'm ashamed to admit that I started younger," he said offhandedly, looking around at the girls. It was more than obvious that it was one of them. "So… Mac. You're one of the only ones we haven't heard from yet," he pointed out.

"But there are two notes from every person." The tech pointed back, and then shifted her finger to Parker. "And its little Miss I-ride-horses that started shaving early," she decided. "Veronica started at fourteen when your sister finally convinced her that she should," she stuck her hand in the bowl and laughed.

"That's the last time I'm telling you anything." Veronica decided, taking a sip of her drink. "Cheater."

"You call it using your resources," Mac snapped playfully.

Logan laughed and relieved Dick of his beer. "Just read Mackenzie," he ordered.

"I beat Final Fantasy Seven in two days."

Dick sat bolt upright and looked around for a moment. The only other person he knew that could boast something like that had died a year ago. Logan threw a glance over at him and nodded thoughtfully. "You okay?" He asked slowly, watching as Dick just nodded. "Care to take a guess?"

Dick looked around and then shrugged. "I'd say Mac," he nodded to the computer nerd and frowned when she chucked and shook her own head.

"It's not Logan," Duncan said decisively. "It took him a week." Logan's grin got wider and Duncan glared at him. "What?"

"Four days," he said matter-of-factly. "The other three days were because I loaned your game to Ronnie when she had her tonsils out." He nodded to the blonde who seemed to try to shrink down into the blanket. "She stayed up almost two straight days to beat it, and forced Leanne to call me when she did."

Duncan's eyes almost bugged out of his head. "You beat it in two days?"

"Well Dad wouldn't let you guys come over and I got bored." Veronica offered in lieu of an actual explanation. Then her eyes locked with Logan's. "I'm amazed you remembered."

"Are you kidding me?" Logan sat up and laughed. "A little snip of a girl like you beating the Donut's record? Of course I remembered." He chuckled and then stuck his hand in the bowl. "Do we even have to read this one out loud?"

"What's it say?" Parker leaned close as Logan held it out. "My first boyfriend was a year younger then me?"

"Mac." Wallace said quickly, skirting over the fact that her first boyfriend turned out to be completely different then anyone expected. "That one was too easy," he chastised as Mac handed him another piece of paper. "I once broke my own nose."

"Duncan." Dick pointed to the man on the other side of the blanket and laughed. "Dude ran into the side of the pool while playing Marco Polo."

"And swore the rest of us to secrecy," Veronica added carefully. "Did you think that meant we wouldn't have remembered?"

"Was hoping." Duncan threw a glance over to the other blanket to watch Lilly bounce a stuffed bear off of her feet. "Oh well. Your turn Dick."

Dick took the piece of paper that was offered to him and shrugged. "Apparently I was a go cart derby winner when I was in high school."

"Were you now?" Wallace laughed and popped Piz on the shoulder. "Aren't we going to congratulate Dick?" He asked his roommate smugly.

Piz laughed as well and took a swig of his drink. "Laugh it up." He tossed his empty can into the pile that was forming to the side of the blanket. "I happen to be a big deal in Beaverton."

"And when do you go back?" Logan asked as he opened his next bottle. He threw a hand into the bowl and opened the next piece of paper. "And Dick, you spending eight thousand dollars on a surf board, not something that no one would guess you would do." He dropped the paper on the blanket and tossed another one from the bowl at Dick. "You can have the next one."

The words on the paper jumped out at him and he stared at them. He knew who it was without even reading it aloud. "My parents aren't my parents," he read with a choke.

There were only two other people on the blanket who knew the answer to that one. Apparently Mac was pretty hard pressed to come up with things that no one about. She glanced around, trying to get someone to actually say the words that she had almost written out for them.

Veronica shook her head. "Too easy," she decided, looking to Logan and then to Dick. "Mac gets the next one."

Mac grabbed one of the final three pieces of paper and unfolded it. "I got my first kiss at four years old," she read with a giggle.

"We have a playa." Duncan laughed, pointing to Wallace.

"How'd you know?"

He nodded to Logan. "This guy here kissed his first woman at age two; Aaron got it on tape and bragged about it until Logan was at least ten." Logan muttered something under his breath and Duncan shook his head. "Dick's first kiss coincided with his first girlfriend – "

"Who didn't move to town until we were in the first grade," Veronica finished for him, stealing his drink. She fished into the bowl and stole the second to last paper. Reading it she frowned. "I see dead people."

"Logan." Duncan pointed, and then he looked at Veronica "We'll tell you why later."

"And the last one's me." Dick threw the few pieces of paper that were in his hand back into the bowl and started to get up. "I'm getting in the pool," he decided as he picked up his two empty bottles. "I'm thinking hamburgers on the grill tonight."

Everyone started packing up even as Mac reached into the bowl to grab the very last piece of paper. Her hand almost dropped the page when she opened it, reading what Dick wrote as the last thing he thought no one knew about him.

_I'm sorry._

* * *

_4:11 pm_

_Wednesday, June 13__th__ 2007_

"I have a problem."

Logan looked up from his book with an eyebrow raised and watched with a detached interest as Mac dropped herself down onto his bed. It was somewhat amusing that the girl that avoided his bedroom at the Grande like the plague was suddenly barging in now. She curled her feet up underneath herself, something he had seen her do countless times before and she stole the pillow closest to her.

"You have a problem," he stated matter-of-factly, watching her fidget with the piece of paper that she had in her hand. "And what does that have to do with me?"

Mac bit her lip before sighing. "Dick."

If he was taken a back, he didn't show it. Instead Logan just sat there, turning back to his book and waiting for her to continue. When she didn't elaborate right away he closed the book and dropped it onto the side table. "Dick," he returned, nodding to the paper in her hand. "Doesn't help me much, Mackenzie."

She stared at him for a moment. Mac still hadn't figured out why it was easier for her to talk to Logan about these things. She used to go to Veronica. Then again, she used to think Logan was nothing more than a bad boy refining his image. His trials and pains with Lilly had never really hit home until Mac had met the blonde that seemed to have started it all. She held out the hand that held the scrap of paper and then nodded when Logan took it. "Dick," she said again.

* * *

Finding Dick wasn't the hardest thing to do in the massive house. In the last few days he was either found toying with the Xbox or lounging in the pool. Once or twice Logan had even caught him napping in his room with a book over his face. At this moment Dick was lounging on the couch watching Piz and Wallace try to beat each other's high score on Guitar Hero with a surf magazine on his lap. 

Neither of the men on the floor paid too much attention to Logan as he tossed a balled up piece of paper at Dick and then nodded to the stairs. Dick dropped the magazine onto the coffee table and followed Logan up to the main floor of the house. "What's up, dude?"

"Read the paper," Logan suggested. Dick unwadded it and stared. "We're gonna take a walk."

* * *

When she tracked him down to the side yard, watching Lilly attempt to kick a ball that he had rolled back to her, Veronica didn't have a clue what to say. And even as she stood there, she still couldn't find the words. 

Duncan didn't even look up from his daughter as he smiled. "If this is the part where you tell me that Lilly's amazing and ask me what's up with Logan…" his voice trailed off and Duncan pushed the ball to her again. "Thank you and I have no idea."

"When did you start reading my mind?" Veronica cocked her head to the side and crouched down beside her ex.

"I wouldn't even dare to try," Duncan said softly. "God knows what the great Veronica Mars has trapped up there." When Lilly retrieved the ball he handed it to Veronica.

She seemed to stare at it for a moment before rolling it to Lilly. "Logan sees dead people?" She asked at last.

"I was wondering when you would get to that."

Duncan's attention wasn't anywhere near Logan or what he had written on the blanket. He focused solely on his daughter as he thought about the right way to tell Veronica that both he and his best friend had been visited by the ghost of a time long past. Then he heard Lilly laugh – no, it was the Lilly that wasn't in front of him, and then he sighed.

"You gonna share?" Veronica asked quickly.

"Have you ever seen Lilly?" He asked a little less then smoothly.

Veronica blinked. "You mean the one that's not in front of us with the Ernie ball?"

"I mean _**Lilly**_," Duncan blew out. "Since she died."

She would have laughed if he didn't look so earnest. How was she supposed to tell him that it was Lilly that kept driving her to find her killer? Or that if it weren't for Lilly leading her into the conversation with Weevil that she would have been on the bus when it crashed. "Lilly picked my dress for our junior homecoming dance," she said at last, almost glaring at the muppet on the side of Lilly's ball. "She always said I was red satin."

"And if I recall correctly you looked amazing in that dress." He nodded to her and then stopped. "If it weren't for the man on your arm."

"Well I was thinking of asking my brother, but that probably wouldn't have gone over well."

The smile on both of their faces proved just how they had gotten past that little speed bump. "He probably would have taken you," he decided. "But you would have had to promise to keep your hands to yourself."

She dropped onto her rear on the grass and put her head on his shoulder. "Would have been tough." The smile left her face before she looked up at him. "So Logan's seeing Lilly?" She asked almost blankly.

Duncan nodded. "Aren't we all?"

"She hasn't made an appearance in my dreams," she said matter-of-factly.

He took a moment to watch as Lilly threw the ball in the air and chased after it. Then he turned to look at Veronica for the first time in the entire conversation. "Trust me," he said quietly. "She will."

* * *

They had been walking around the trail for a solid forty-five minutes before Dick finally allowed himself to cough. "I keep thinking of Cass," he said finally, slowing to a stop beside a tree that Logan would have sworn they passed at least two times before. "He would want me to apologize for everything I've done." 

"He would want?" Logan sat down on a fallen log and shook his head. "And what about you?" He realized now how much he had been talking like the shrink that his parents made him go see when Lilly died. "You don't want to apologize?"

"It won't help." He dropped down onto the leaves and looked up at his best friend. "And you and I aren't going to get all Oprah on each other out here in the woods." He picked at the stems of the leaves around him and laughed. "How did you get that anyway."

"Mac pulled it out of the bowl," he said simply. "She brought it to me."

Dick laughed again. "What the hell did she care about what I wrote anyway?"

There was a pause as Logan shook his head. "She worries about you," he said after a second, trying to decide whether or not it was actually true. Maybe she just knew that Logan would be worried about him. "We all do actually."

Dick stopped and frowned. "You shouldn't," he decided, standing up. "I'm fine."

"And my dad didn't kill anyone," Logan deadpanned.

There came the point when Dick realized that there was not going to be a simple ending to the conversation that Logan started. He shook his head and forced a smile. "Millions of fans can't be wrong."

* * *

_5:27 pm_

_Wednesday, June 13__th__ 2007_

Even before they announced to the rest of the cabin that they were back from their walk, Logan and Dick had shaped the hamburger patties and prepped the salad for dinner. Duncan managed to catch up with them shortly after they lit the barbeque and with a mixture of beer and water bottles, they boys sat back on the picnic table and relaxed as a threesome for the first time in years. Laughter from the front yard wafted to the back, and Duncan could just imagine Mac and Veronica chasing after Lilly as she played in the sprinkler that Wallace had found in the shed while he and Mac were exploring everything the house had to offer. Parker was in the kitchen, a sweet smell of chocolate promising brownies for dessert. They hadn't seen Wallace or Piz since retiring to the backyard. Then again, with Logan in the mood he was in, it might not have been a bad thing.

Closing his eyes, Duncan could imagine a life, maybe ten years from now. Family barbeques and children playing in the pool floated through his mind, and when he opened his eyes, he smiled. "Anyone else get the feeling that this is how it's going to be in the future?" He asked no one in particular.

Logan nodded before he could stop himself and then he pointed at Dick and then himself. "One of us is going to have to get a place overseas though," he added, even as he put more meat on the grill. "We can't keep smuggling you into the country every time we want dinner."

"And you two'll have to decide who gets to finally marry Ronnie." Dick took a sip of his water bottle and sighed. For once he wasn't being stupid or joking. Their semi-feud for the blonde was getting a little ridiculous. If he wasn't aware of Veronica's feeling for Logan, he might even feel a little sorry for the woman. "Or learn to share."

"Sharing sounds good." Duncan tiled his chair back on two legs and propped his feet up on the table. He shrugged to Logan and then tried not to laugh. "What do you say? You buy a house next to mine; we'll share a back yard, and work out a schedule?"

Shaking his head, Logan almost couldn't believe what he was hearing. "That's a little too reverse Big Love for me," he decided, finishing off his first beer and popping open the second with the bottle opener that he'd discovered on Duncan's keys.

Laughter rang through the air again, and Duncan's smile seemed to fade. The truth was he could see it as Dick had suggested; he, Logan and Veronica together as one big happy family. Throw his sister into the mix and it would truly be the life that he had always dreamed of. He shook his head violently, dispelling all thoughts other then the here and now. "You given any thought to what you want to do with the rest of your life?"

The other two looked put off for a second before Logan took hold of the half of the conversation. "Not really." He handed the package of sliced cheese to Dick and then slid the plate further down the table where it rested in front of Dick. "I haven't even declared a major."

"You might want to do that sometime in the next three years." Duncan pulled one of his feet off of the table and leaned against the leg that was propped up "Unless you plan on being a career student."

"Says the man who's living off Daddy's charity in a foreign country." Logan took another sip of his beer and nodded to the Kane heir.

"I have a job, thank you very much." Duncan snorted indignantly, trying his hardest to keep the smile off of his face. "I happen to be a special consultant for Kane Software's European division."

"Same difference," Dick chuckled. He'd only been drinking water since breakfast, and even from where Duncan sat, he could tell. The man sitting on the table was far more lucid then they had seen him in a good long time. "My job title at Casablancas Incorporated is Unique Demographic Specialist."

"And Aaron's agent keeps sending me scripts."

The look on Logan's face clearly stated that he hadn't meant to say it aloud. Both of Duncan's feet were on the floor before he could stop himself and he was leaning almost all the way across the table as Dick set the last piece of cheese on the plate. "Really?" He asked carefully. "You thinking about trying Hollywood on for size?"

It was Logan's turn to laugh as he shook his head. "I can see the headlines now." He held up one hand and his chuckle took on an ironic tone. "The last thing the world needs is another Echolls heading another million dollar pile of crap."

"It might be fun." Dick stole a piece of cheese off the plate as Logan started placing them on half of the burgers on the grill. "Getting paid millions to bang Lindsey Lohan on screen?"

"Her being coked out of her mind kind of takes the fun out of it," Logan admitted, flipping one of the remaining hamburgers over and turning to grab the package of veggie burgers off the chair to his left. He dropped a few onto the grill and frowned.

The screen door slammed and Logan held up the spatula in mock salute at Parker. She stuck her tongue out at him even as Duncan stood to help her with the plates and silverware that she was juggling in her hands. "I was thinking we could all eat out here," she said in lieu of a greeting and nodded Duncan to the square patio tables on the part of the porch that wasn't screened in. "We haven't tried that yet."

"Another brilliant idea," Logan agreed. "I'll mix the drinks as soon as the burgers are done."

Taking the spatula out of Logan's hand, Dick nodded to the deck. "I'll watch the food," he offered after Logan's eyebrows rose. "Duncan's out here to make sure I don't spit in them."

"I was thinking that I didn't want mine burned bro." Logan nodded slowly and picked up his beer bottle, making his way to the deck. "Thanks man."

* * *

_7:53 pm_

_Wednesday, June 13__th__ 2007_

"I could have done that."

Veronica's head snapped up and she gasped just as another wave of water splashed over the side of the bathtub. Her tank top was soaked now, as was the bra underneath, and her jeans had large splotches from where they had been attacked as well. Lilly, the younger, was sitting with her legs crossed on the other side of the rim of the tub, looking up at her father as if she hadn't just been dumping the water in her bath bucket set all over the blonde beside him.

"You didn't have to bathe her." Duncan handed Veronica a towel and crouched down to survey his daughter's condition. She had apparently been scrubbed down, most likely against her will, and her hair smelled of the berry shampoo that Veronica and Logan had picked up for her. "And how are you, Princess?"

Lilly giggled and held her arms up for her father. He grabbed the other towel from the counter by the sink and opened it, hitting the drain and lifting his daughter out of the bathtub almost effortlessly. "Bath done!" she shouted.

"Bath done," he agreed, turning around and tucking the bottom of the oversized towel underneath Lilly's legs. "Although I think Veronica just might need one because she helped you."

"She all cween!" Lilly laughed and pointed at the blonde drying herself off.

Veronica's laugh rang through the bathroom and she set herself down on the low counter on the other side of the sink. "I wanted to," she answered Duncan's previous statement and then ran a hand over her hair. "I guess I wanted to prove that I could do it."

"Was there ever any doubt?" Duncan led Lilly out of the bathroom and dropped her playfully on the bed, laughing as she squealed in delight and kicked the towel off herself. Duncan pulled out one of her night outfits; one of Logan's donated Neptune Pirates gym shirts and a pair of her sleep shorts and held them up for her approval. All Veronica could do was sit back in awe as Lilly held her feet up for her father to pull on her night time pull up and then pull her shorts over top. She held her arms straight upwards and Duncan dropped the shirt onto her, kissing the top of her head as it appeared through the whole in the shirt. "Which book are we reading for bed?"

"Duckies!" As if on her command, Duncan pulled the book on ducks out of Lilly's bag and handed it to Veronica. "You started it." He lifted Lilly off of the bed and placed her in Veronica's arm. "You get to read her the story." He kissed one, then the other girl on the head and waved to Lilly as he left the room again. "Night baby."

* * *

You know the drill... Review and you get more 


	8. Chapter 7

**Chapter Seven: **

_8:43 am_

_Thursday, June 14th, 2007_

There were many different places to wake up in the Echolls cabin, none of which surprised Veronica in the slightest when she finally roused from unconsciousness.

Until she felt her pillow move.

She was curled up on the floor, of that she was certain, probably next to the couch in the den where they had all watched an array of Molly Ringwald movies the night before. Her left hand had to be wedged under the couch, because without withdrawing it she couldn't move the tips of her fingers. She felt around with her free hand, freezing when it bumped into what could only be a cloth covered thigh.

"Sleeping Beauty awakens."

Her eyes popped open then, just to frown when she saw Mac in one of the oversized leather chairs, coffee cup in one hand and a novel in the other. The computer tech didn't seem too concerned with either one of their positions. Quite the opposite, actually. Mac had been trying not to laugh for the half hour she'd been down there watching her best female friend. There was definitely something to be said about a girl who can curl up with a guy she swore with a vengeance that she detested.

"You planning on getting your ass up anytime soon?" Mac shifted in the chair and laughed when Veronica edged away from the body next to her. "I promise he won't bite unless you ask."

It was almost comical the way Veronica's head shifted to look at the flannel pajama bottoms of the man who currently had his arms around her waist. Her eyes followed up the line of his leg, and when she got to the covered torso Veronica let out a sigh of relief. She shifted, rolling over and glancing at the face of Logan Echolls.

"Duncan told us not to wake you up when we were going to bed last night," Mac filled in the gaps of Veronica's memory without being asked. "I think Wallace took pictures of you two though, so I'd be nice to him for a few days."

As she processed this, Veronica's head shook. "What time is it?"

"Quarter to nine," Duncan answered from the steps, holding up a coffee cup and smiling. "We let you two sleep in. We've had to resort to cold cereal since you've been holding our master chef hostage." When Veronica didn't move, Duncan stepped closer to hand her the mug. "If the coffee's not to your liking you're just going to have to tough it out until another pot can be brewed."

She held one hand up, and Duncan stepped forward to hand her the mug. "Any caffeine is good," she decided with a grimace, taking a large gulp of the liquid that Duncan had most likely made for himself. "But still bitter," she pouted. She waited for half a minute before attempting to untangle herself from Logan. He startled awake when she pulled her leg out from between his.

"Morning, Bobcat," Logan joked more to himself then to her. When he realized they had an audience, he shifted back to the left to allow Veronica the chance to get away.

Duncan didn't move as Veronica followed Mac up the stairs to the kitchen. He simply crossed his arms against his chest and frowned. Logan knew that look. It was one that had been taught to them and honed by the very woman who had inspired them to get together this week. "What?"

His lips turned up ever so slightly. "Nothing," Duncan chuckled. "Absolutely nothing."

Pulling himself to his feet, Logan almost growled. "What?"

Duncan couldn't hide it now. His mouth split into the biggest grin ever and he shook his head as he turned." You talk in your sleep."

* * *

_11:38am_

_Thursday, June 14th, 2007_

Lilly Duty wasn't an activity that one generally volunteered for. The toddler was almost famous for picking her adult companion of the day and not letting them out of her sight until they played with her. So when Logan came down from his shower, poured himself a bowl of Chex and immediately latched on to the toddler, everyone was surprised. Even Lilly.

After finishing up her breakfast, Logan led Lilly out into the front yard with an oversized beach ball that he had acquired somewhere and a blanket where the two of them seemed to get lost in their own world. They didn't seem to notice when Duncan brought a book and a drink out onto the front porch to watch them run through the sprinklers and play catch.

Which was where Veronica found him, stepping out onto the porch with her own drink and a copy of an old pysch textbook. "Did you ever think three years ago that this is where you would be right now?" He made room on the porch swing for her even before she spoke.

"Three years ago I never thought I would speak to you again," he answered honestly, putting the book mark in its place and setting the book off to the side. "And Logan was most likely to die by alcohol poisoning."

"Or an STD," Veronica added off handedly.

"And now look at us." He waved his hand to encompass the house and the yard. "I've got a beautiful little girl, you're no longer the fragile outcast – "

"Logan's sober."

There was a squeal from in front of them and Veronica cut her eyes just in time to see Logan pick Lilly up and run her towards the sprinkler like an airplane. Lilly's hands were flailing to keep the water from her face even as she was laughing. "Did you ever think that he would want kids?"

Veronica shook her head. "With Lilly?" she asked with a frown. "Not likely."

"Lilly was enough," Duncan told her sagely. "Now…I'm not so sure."

"He does," Veronica threw back at him. "You can tell every time he tilts his head in her direction." Logan and Lilly were on their knees now, bouncing the ball to each other with their heads.

"Logan wants a way to right all the wrongs done to us," Veronica bit out. "Lilly's the epitome of a fresh start."

Duncan finally took his eyes off his daughter and his best friend and arched an eyebrow at Veronica. "That's why she's Lilly."

* * *

After walking down to the lake and back, there really wasn't anything else of importance that Wallace had to do. Which was why when he saw the esteemed Logan Echolls on his hands and knees in front of a little girl with a beach ball, Wallace had to stop and reaffirm to himself that he wasn't going crazy. 

"You're really good with her."

Logan looked up just in time to catch the ball to his chest as Wallace set himself down. He had been going with Lilly almost nonstop since breakfast, and he hoped that after another half hour or so the tot would finally be ready for a nap. "You sound surprised," he cracked back, bouncing the ball a few feet to his left to watch Lilly scramble after it.

"No…" Wallace shook his head. "It's just…" He paused again, smiling as Lilly held up her prize in triumph, took three steps and promptly fell forward. The child shook herself off and tried to chase the ball again. "You're really good with her."

Logan's eyebrows rose. "Did you need something?"

With a shake of his head, Wallace offered Logan the second bottle of water that he had taken outside with him. "No."

* * *

_1:24 pm_

_Thursday, June 14th, 2007_

All through lunch he had watched her.

_Observing, _his brother had called it years ago. It wasn't watching, it was observing.

It didn't make him feel like any less of a stalker.

She had been on the phone with her parents during the meal, promising to be back on Monday ready and willing to go to some race or another and help her brother get ready for summer camp. When she had hung up and passed Veronica's Sidekick back to the sleuth, they had started up a conversation about new cell phones and the pros and cons of models. When Logan had taken Lilly to get cleaned up and laid down for her nap, she'd politely excused herself and took her laptop out to the back patio. He'd moved to the chairs on the deck, pretending to look at the surf magazine he could already recite and bouncing along to the music that Parker was blaring through the house.

It was her voice that had startled him. Clean and crisp and ready to cut him in half if he didn't pack up his magazine and leave her alone. She had yet to look up from her laptop, but it didn't stop him from knowing that it was him she was talking to. "Either speak or go in, Dick," Mac spat out. "I'm not in the mood for your puppy dog looks and whatever the hell you think you're doing."

"I…" Dick's mouth opened and shut and Mac was still not looking at him.

"Just leave me alone," she snapped.

He was on his feet before he knew it, looking from her to the house and back again. From where he stood, Dick had two options; leave, and risk the possibility of never being able to catch Mac alone again, or attempting to tell her what he wanted to. So he made his decision and moved.

Closer to her.

He didn't sit, at least not next to her. Instead Dick moved past the chair Mac was in and dropped down beside the pool, dangling his feet over the edge. The only reason Mac knew that he was still there was that he was talking now. Or mumbling as the case may be. Mac had to take her ear buds out of her ears to hear him properly. "I've done a lot of stupid shit," he started off. "Most of the time to other people."

Mac wasn't sure if she was supposed to respond to him or not. She'd spent almost a full week trying to ignore him. Then again, if she were to speak up, what was she supposed to say?

"I'm sorry."

For a second she couldn't believe that he was actually speaking to her. Maybe he was talking to himself and she was just in earshot. Finally, she gave up all pretense of reading what was on her laptop and set it to the side. "You're sorry?"

Still Dick didn't turn. He didn't even acknowledge that she's spoken. "I'm the big brother," he said at last, his eyes fixated on the bottom of the pool. He didn't even seem phased at the fact that they still hadn't removed the wicker chair from the water. Mac made a mental note to remind Logan that it needed to be pulled to the surface before they left. "It was my job to protect him."

And the pieces finally fell into place.

Not that that helped Mac at all. Dick Casablancas was now sitting less then ten feet away from her trying to talk about his brother. The brother that had been her first… well almost first everything. Definitely the first to break her heart. "I think…" she let her voice trail off and scooted to the end of the lounger. She thought. Well that was informative. What was she supposed to say? Two minutes ago she didn't even want to talk to him.

"Why didn't he tell me?" It was a question that Dick had asked himself plenty of times in the last year. One that he wouldn't be too amazed to find out that Mac had asked herself. "He'd been on Woody's teams since he was eight. Why couldn't Beaver have told me?"

"Beaver?" The word fell off of Mac's tongue harshly. She'd never really gotten used to the nickname that Dick had bestowed upon his brother. Cassidy had always hated it anyway. "After everything," she bit back her harsh words and swallowed them. Yelling at Dick would do her absolutely no good. Thankfully she understood that the Casablancas' brothers were similar in that respect. "He's been dead for a year, Dick, and you still can't call him by his name?" She laughed bitterly. "His name was _**Cassidy**_."

Dick's head shook so hard the hair in front of his eyes bobbed from side to side. "He wasn't Cassidy," he swore vehemently. How could a smart girl like Mac be so stupid? "My little brother wasn't Cassidy." He finally turned to face her then, their eyes locking. "_**Cassidy**_ set our father up to be indicted for fraud, and blew up buses to keep people quiet. _**Cassidy**_murdered people and held Logan and Veronica at gun point."

"_**Cassidy**_ threw himself _**off a building**_, Dick!" Mac couldn't place where all of her anger had come from. She had sworn that she had resolved herself to Cassidy's death. She may not have caused it, or understood why it happened, but she certainly didn't help stop it at all. She thought she had gotten over that. "Cassidy died Dick."

"Beaver died," Dick corrected her. Of that fact he had absolutely no doubt. Beaver was dead and Cassidy was rotting in some demented form of hell.

Not for the first time Mac was a little confused. Maybe even more than a little. "They're the same person," she reminded him, her anger dissipating faster than she would have liked. "Beaver and Cassidy were the same person."

"No." Dick shrugged, turning back to the pool. "They can't be."

She moved without thinking. After all, why would she want to put herself in even closer proximity to the guy who made her life hell before and after his brother died? She was sitting next to him before she could stop herself. "Why not?"

For the first time in as long as she could remember, the Dick Casablancas in front of her wasn't the one she had known. He wasn't cocky or self assured. His eyes weren't full of disdain for her or the usual blank stare he gave to others. Dick looked over at her as if she were his equal, and Mac wasn't too sure how she felt about that. "Because there can't be a way that the kid who used to kick my ass in Mortal Kombat, laugh at my lame ass jokes, and invite himself to come surfing with me and the guys could do the things that Cassidy did…" He took a deep breath and finally looked up at her. "And not care."

Mac froze.

"He cared," she said after a moment, finding that talking to Dick had not suddenly become easier, but maybe a little less complex. "I think he did," she frowned. "He did what he thought he had to do and in the end he cared more than he wanted to. And he loved you. Maybe that's why he couldn't tell you."

Dick tried to smile. "He loved you too," he said softly, turning away from her. "I don't know if he ever said it. But he did."

It was probably as close to another apology as Mac was likely to get from Dick. "We need to remember that," she decided with a nod, cocking her head to the side and catching Dick's eye.

"Yeah we do," he answered back.

"For what it's worth…" Mac leaned as far into Dick as she dared, never allowing their eye contact to break. "I know he forgives you."

He tried not to be skeptical. "Really?"

"Call it intuition." Lilly's visit still rang in Mac's mind as she smiled.

"I forgive him too," Dick stated matter-of-factly, nodding carefully and looking back into the water. They weren't friends, not yet. But it was a start.

* * *

_4:48 pm_

_Thursday, June 14th, 2007_

"Where is everyone?" Veronica sat back on the couch and took the drink that Logan had offered her. Wallace was lying on the floor at her feet, and Logan spread himself out beside her on the couch.

"Piz is on the phone with his sister," Wallace supplied offhandedly, shaking his head at the thought of his roommate up in their room. It was almost amazing that they couldn't hear him from where they were sitting.

Logan nodded slowly. "Dick took a walk," he informed the room, making eye contact with Duncan and smiling.

No one mentioned the fact that Mac had all but locked herself in her room after her talk with Dick. Or the fact that Parker didn't seem to understand that Mac saying she didn't want to be bothered meant that Mac didn't want to be bothered. But it left the group of four by themselves, after having put Lilly down for her nap, and that was fine by them.

Duncan looked over at his best friend and his ex as he settled himself down on the floor of the den. It almost shocked him that it truly felt like old times, with the exception of the fourth person in the room being male. Veronica shifted her feet back to Logan's lap and Duncan smiled. "We're missing something."

Looking up from his book, Logan cast a glance around the room. "A scantily clad blonde bitching because we haven't started Jell-O shots?" He reached for his beer as Duncan set his down.

"I was going to go for something a little more profound," Duncan laughed nervously. "But yeah."

Wallace sat up then, leaning against the coffee table and watching as Veronica reached across Logan to get a handful of chips without moving more then her arm. "You guys hung out like this?" He asked without meaning to, his eyes darting around the room even though he knew no one was about to take offense.

"Most of the time a game system was on," Duncan elaborated. He didn't want to point out that it was more often then not he and Veronica playing it while Logan and Lilly did unspeakable things but Wallace probably could have figured that one out by himself.

"Or Lilly was taking something off," Logan joked with a sneer. "But it was the same general scenario."

The noise that came from Wallace's throat was a little more surprised then anything else. "You guys were boring," he decided with a laugh.

"I was not!" Logan dropped his book and almost knocked Veronica out of the way in order to pummel Wallace with a pillow. "You take that back, dude."

"It was more exciting with Lilly around," Duncan decided, moving himself and his drink out of harms way. "She could make watching paint dry a party."

The look that spread across Veronica's face was one that Logan had come to realize meant trouble for him. "I've got an idea," she announced, hopping off Logan's lap and moving to the stairs. "Wallace go get Piz, you guys track down Dick, and meet me back here in half an hour."

"Do I want to know?" Duncan had finished his beer and was now attempting to get up and read his ex's mind simultaneously.

Veronica just smiled. "Trust me."

The three men looked at each other and Wallace shook. "Why did all of the hairs on the back of my neck just stand up?"

* * *

It wasn't until he returned to the den, Dick and Duncan in tow, and saw Veronica on her hands and knees in front of the television that Logan figured out what had gotten the blonde all worked up. And when he did he couldn't help but smile. Her webcam was out, attached to both her laptop and the television behind her as she connected the last few wires that ran from the big screen to the monitor a few feet away. Her video camera was on its side on the coffee table, almost hidden beneath the mounds of CDs that she had found, and even Mac was giggling as she and Parker turned on the karaoke machine and fiddled with the microphones. 

"No," Wallace shook his head when he bumped into Dick at the bottom of the stairs, and he kept repeating the word over and over as he was pulled further into the room. "I don't sing Superfly, especially not in front of people."

"You're not in front of people, Wallace," Veronica shot back. "You're in front of friends."

"That will mock you severely if you suck," Logan flopped onto the couch and cocked an eyebrow up at Veronica. "And the first person to sing Greatest Love of All doesn't wake up tomorrow morning."

Veronica smiled and threw one of the wireless mics in his direction. "That means you get to be first," she scooted on her rear to the table and adjusted her webcam, making sure to only get part of the television in the shot. "There's already a cd in there, but you can change it if you'd like."

Logan reached for the cd case that Veronica nodded to and shook his head. "I trust you," he laughed, flipping the mic in his hand and then turning it on. "Just push play."

The first few strains caught him completely off guard. He actually missed a few of the words. "Kept thinking I could never live without you by my side." His voice hitched at the end of the line and he forced it an octave higher then it should have been. Gloria Gaynor never sounded so wrong. "Then I spent so many nights thinking how you did me wrong, and I grew strong."

"I think I'm about to grow ear plugs." Duncan managed between fits of laughter as Mac turned off the overhead light and Logan attempted to swivel his hips to the non existent beat. "What in the name of God told you that this is a good idea?"

"Not what," Veronica corrected, pointing to Logan and then to Duncan. "Who."

"Remind me to kill my sister." Duncan deadpanned, watching Veronica's eyes dance before turning back to Logan.

When Logan proved that he could Survive, he grabbed the cds and threw one in, handing the mic to Mac and physically picking her up to put her in front of the group.

* * *

_5:30 PM  
Thursday, June 15th, 2007  
_

There was definitely very little in the universe that still surprised Keith Mars. From drugs to murder to teenagers and bombs to adultery, there was almost nothing that he hadn't seen before and even less that could get past him. There was, of course, one exception to the rule.

His daughter.

"Here's the fax you were waiting for, Sheriff." Leo dropped a stack of papers on top of Keith's desk beside a picture of the aforementioned perpetrator along with a file folder. "Although I can't remember any case that could require urgent faxes from a contact at the airport." Without waiting for an invitation, he flopped down into the leather chair in front of his boss.

Keith picked up the fax and thumbed through it before stopping on the third page and cursing. "It's not our case," he told the deputy, reaching for the phone with one hand and one of his highlighters with the other. He absently dialed the phone and the curses didn't seem to end when he read the rest of the line. "It's my kid."

"Veronica's doing work on that camping trip?" Leo was even more confused then ever. Somehow they had gone from an important airport manifest to a forged passport to Keith's nineteen year old daughter, who had sworn not to take any new cases until she returned from her FBI internship. Then again, it definitely explained the Sheriff's mood since she had packed up and left on her trip.

"No," Keith said bluntly, trying to decide if there was a way for him to bug his only child's phone from three hundred miles away. The other end of the line was connected and he took a deep breath. "This is Keith Mars from the Balboa County Sheriff's Department." He set the piece of paper down and scooted it across the desk and pointed to the highlighted portion he had been staring at. "I need to speak to Christopher Turner." He dropped the highlighter and pulled the phone away from his mouth. "That's got Veronica all over it," he decided. "I fear the day the government gives her a badge and access to their databases."

"Chris. Hey, it's Keith," he paused. "I need you to look into someone and get a photo ID copy to me." Leo's eyebrows raised and Keith nodded. "The name is Ron Logan. He and his daughter flew on United Airlines flight 304 from San Francisco on a connection flight from Australia." Keith grabbed the paper back from Leo and flipped a few more pages. "I've gone all over the manifest from SFI and I can't fine him anywhere. I even ran him through the database. Right now I'd settle for a photo of this guy." He scribbled a few notes down and smiled. "You found him? And SFI? Thanks Chris, just fax it over." The phone was slammed back down on the cradle and Keith laughed. "Go check the fax machine one more time." His laughter followed Leo out into the hall and when he returned and the paper was dropped in front of his boss it didn't stop. Chris had managed to get a hold of a copy of the drivers' license for Ron Logan and the passport photo that he had used to enter the country. The names didn't match up, but the faces were unmistakable.

Staring up at Keith from the fax on top of his desk was none other then Duncan Kane.

* * *

_6:45 PM  
Thursday, June 15th, 2007_

"Oh my God!" Parker dropped a handful of popcorn the floor as she choked on the handful she had just shoved into her mouth. She took the soda Mac offered her. As she went to swallow another bit of laughter bubbled up and she managed to choke on that as well. "I would have died."

Duncan was holding his sides now, trying to contain his laughter. He had been there, five years ago when Celeste had caught Lilly and Logan for the first time having sex. Not that he had wanted to see what his mother had walked in on, but when Celeste Kane started screaming in the middle of the afternoon for no apparent reason, everyone in the house had come running. "Believe me, the only person in that room who wasn't ready to keel over that very second of embarrassment was Lilly."

"That was Lilly in a nutshell." Veronica lifted Lilly off of the floor and sat down next to Logan, pulling the toddler into her lap. "If there was a way she could make someone else uncomfortable she would."

"Most of the time it was Celeste-"

"Or whoever she was sleeping with that week," Logan took a sip of his beer. "Thank God it wasn't always me."

Veronica laughed and took Logan's drink from him. "She couldn't embarrass you that much even if she tried," she rebutted. "With the family you had..." Veronica paused as she recalled the last time she had seen Logan's sister. Over the last year Trina had finally been accepted as a 'frienemy' of the Hollywood party scene and Veronica had been conned into riding with him when Logan had to go pick her up from whatever hotspot she had decided it would look best for her to be kicked out of that week.

"I'll be damned if she didn't try," Logan finished off the beer he retrieved from Veronica and handed the empty bottle to Wallace to add to the trash pile. "Then again, it's not like I was her favorite target," he opened the next bottle and took a long swig. "The second she was introduced to Beave..."

There was a long silence as everyone seemed to look at each other in confirmation that that name had so easily started to come from Logan's mouth. Another minute and Dick couldn't help but to laugh. "If I had a dollar for every time she claimed to have had sex with him I'd be a rich man."

"You **are** a rich man," Duncan laughed, handing Dick his second beer for the afternoon. "And didn't 'Lil give him that nickname?"

"Fifth grade," Logan confirmed. "It was the year she decided that she was so much better then the rest of us because she was in middle school." He laughed. "Well, all but Ronnie here."

"And when you grew an ass you were back at the top of her list," Veronica's hand hit Logan's leg and he handed her his drink.

Dick laughed at his friend and sank back onto the oversized pillow he had settled himself onto. "It wouldn't have pissed him off so much if everyone didn't adopt it," he decided, taking a long swig of his drink. "It was when people he didn't know started picking it up."

"It just fit," Logan agreed. And it had. After all, hadn't he used it more then a few times when he was seeing Kendall.

From her place by the television, Mac just sighed. "Why is it Celeste?" she asked Duncan offhandedly.

"Excuse me?"

"Why do you call your mother Celeste?" When everyone's eyes turned on her, she began to get self-conscious. "Is it some 09er thing? Madison called her parents 'Mom and Daddy.'"

Duncan couldn't help but laugh. "Another Lilly thing," he informed the room, pointing at his child. "And if this one starts it up I'm going to have to duck tape her mouth shut."

"She will," Veronica decided, bouncing the toddler on her knee just to hear her squeal.

"But why?"

There was a story to that that not even Logan was one hundred percent sure of. "It started when Lilly and I first met Veronica," Duncan decided, leaning forward and holding out his hands. His daughter squirmed off Veronica's lap and headed straight for her father. "I think Lilly fell in love with her before I did." A smile spread across his face and both he and Veronica blushed a little. He shook his head. "Anyway, Celeste and Lianne didn't like each other from day one," he chuckled. "If only we knew why back then."

"Well, Lilly picked up on the way Celeste would cringe anytime my mother said her name," Veronica cut in, stretching out across Logan's lap. "So anytime Lilly was talking to anyone about her mother when Celeste was in the room, she would purposely call her Celeste, mimicking my mother almost perfectly."

"And when we all got to the age when we realized how much a bitch Celeste was," Duncan snorted as Lilly tried to shove one of her fingers up her father's nose. "Mom disappeared completely and everyone called her Celeste."

Logan shook his head, pointing at Duncan. "Except for Mama's boy down there."

He could almost hear his sister's laughter. "Well 'Lil had Dad wrapped around his little finger."

"A Kane trait I take it?" Parker scooted closer to Duncan to toy with Lilly's hair and she laughed.

Veronica shook her head. "Comes with the name," she agreed. "Although Jake used to think I hung the moon too."

"He was too worried that you were his," Logan threw out, shielding his face from the onslaught of popcorn that Veronica had launched at him. "Not to mention that there wasn't an adult around that you didn't have wrapped."

"Except Celeste," Wallace pointed out.

"She was too worried that 'Ronica was his," Duncan repeated.

"That's another thing I don't get." For the first time in the entire conversation, Piz put down the chips and looked over at the trio by the couch. "Why is it never just Veronica?"

The laugh that bubbled up from Veronica's lips was almost hysterical. She looked from Duncan to Logan then back again. "I'm too special," she said out loud, watching the room join her in laughter.

"Lilly was the only one allowed to call her Veronica," Logan said slowly, taking the drink out of Veronica's hand before she wound up wearing it. "Veronica Mars."

"Always in that order," Duncan pointed out. "Never one without the other."

"It was yet another Lilly thing - "

"Which happened to stick even after she died," Logan cut Veronica off. "Which I think pissed her off more."

Veronica dug her heel into his thigh. "You mean you calling me Ronnie and a whore in one sentence?"

"I never called you a whore," Logan almost rose to his defense. He paused for a moment and took a deep breath. "I may have implied it and I damn sure didn't stop the rumors, but I never actually came out with the word."

"He let me do it for him," Dick supplied, nodding over to the blonde detective. "And again - "

"Don't worry about it," Veronica nodded back.

Duncan watched the exchange with careful interest. "There's been a truce?" He asked the room absently.

"Almost everyone," Mac returned, holding out a hand for a beverage. She cast a look over to Dick and attempted to smile. "Hey Duncan?" When the Kane heir looked her way, she smiled. "Say something true."

"True?" There was a pause as Duncan ran through his mental file trying to come up with something. He had a lot of things that he knew without a shadow of a doubt were true, but something in the way Mac changed the entire topic like she did told him that she wasn't looking for just a simple 'my name is Duncan Jacob' that he could have supplied. He looked around the room. Veronica was lounging against Logan, Dick had somehow wound up closer to Mac, Parker and Piz were just as confused as they always seemed, and Wallace seemed to be soaking up information about a time and place that he would never live in. "You want something true?" He asked. When Mac nodded, he frowned. "I had Aaron Echolls killed."

You could hear a pin drop as the two on the couch seemed to process what they had just been told. While Veronica studied her lap and the bowl of popcorn that was in it, Logan was staring into the face of his best friend. For the last year he had been more then vocal about thanking whoever had been responsible for pulling the trigger on the bastard that had paraded him around for half of his life and beat him the other half. Now, staring at the man he had spent his entire life growing up with, he had no idea what to think. And Veronica's silence wasn't making it any easier.

There was a cough and Duncan finally broke Logan's gaze to turn to Veronica. "Thank you," she said at last. The ten minutes she had spent in the freezer felt like a lifetime ago, but the second they read the verdict and Aaron was free it had been at the forefront of her mind until she had seen Clarence walk out of the Grande the night the older Echolls had died.

"I did it for all of us," he tried to meet Logan's eyes again and didn't flinch when he realized that Logan wasn't going to look back. It was one thing to wish your father dead. It was another to know your best friend hired someone to pull the trigger. "He took something from us all."

"I own seventy-nine percent of the Phoenix Land Trust," Mac announced.

The pause wasn't nearly as long as it was before, and even while Parker was looking to Veronica for an explanation of what the Phoenix Land Trust was, everyone else was watching the computer tech. "You?"

"Kendall really should have learned to read fine print," Mac laughed. "It's being run by shareholders and lawyers until I decide what to do with it."

"Damn," Logan blew a breath out of his mouth and then laughed. "Just damn."

"Veronica owns twenty five percent of Mars investigations," Mac tried to point out.

Her head shook as she processed the fact that the man who had raped her and blew up their classmates had put enough thought into the fact that he might not be there and Mac would need to be taken care of. "I think it's good that Mackie over there has something to fall back on," she said at last, laughing at the fact that Piz had practically fallen asleep on the floor.

* * *

_8:50 PM  
Thursday, June 15th, 2007_

When he found her outside, after most everyone called it an early night, Logan didn't know what to think. She was sitting upright on the edge of a lounge chair, staring up at the sky.

Logan could honestly say the he could read almost every single look that had ever graced Veronica Mars' face, but this time his usual power wasn't there. So instead of trying, he just took a step off the stairs. "Tell me something true," he started out.

"I have absolutely no luck with guys," she decided, scooting forward just enough to allow him to plop down behind her.

"Not personal enough," Logan told her with a fake huff, scooting her backward until she was resting in the v his thighs made. "Come on, Ronnie, you're better at this stuff then I am. Tell me something true."

Veronica smiled and relaxed into Logan's embrace. It was true, there was no safer place for her then where she was right then. "I did love you," she said at last, not turning around to look at him. Logan didn't have to look at her face this time to know what she was leaving out. "Your turn."

He kissed the top of her head and smiled. "I did love you, too," he repeated.

From his place on the balcony, Duncan couldn't keep the smile off of his face. "Thank you," he said softly.

* * *

_1:26 AM  
Friday, June 16th, 2007_

When he opened his eyes, Wallace couldn't believe what he was seeing.

He was in the quad at Neptune High. The direct middle, if memory served correctly. He looked around the deserted area and breathed a sigh of relief at the fact that at least there was no one to witness his current status.

Especially since, once again, he was taped to the flagpole.

"Oh," he grumbled, glancing down at the tape that secured him to the pole that he still shuddered when he thought of. "This is just wrong."

"_At least you're fully clothed this time_." Wallace's eyes shot up and locked with the green eyes that he would know almost anywhere. It didn't matter that he'd never been introduced to them, or that she was gone long before he moved to Neptune. She ran a hand through her hair and never once tried to shift away from his gaze.

Wallace nodded. "Am I supposed to be thankful?" He asked indignantly.

Her wry smile almost scared him. It was as if Wallace was looking at Logan, Duncan, and Veronica all rolled into one person. "_You can be whatever you'd like," s_he told him shortly, her voice carrying the dangerous tone that Logan had seemed to master. She tilted her head to the side and bit her lip. "_I'm_ –"

"Lilly Kane," he cut her off. "Yeah I know." He nodded to her and shrugged as best as he could. "I've heard all about you."

"_You say that like it's a bad thing_." She stepped back onto one flip-flopped heal and crossed her arms against her chest. "_I've heard an awful lot about you too, Wallace Fennell_."

The feeling was back. The flagpole feeling mixed with the tiny terror that ran up his spine whenever Veronica asked him for a favor. He'd never even met Lilly Kane and she still managed to turn him inside out. Well, at least now he knew exactly how she had managed to capture the heart and soul of Logan for a time. He squared his shoulders and bit his tongue, mentally preparing himself for whatever it was that the woman – ghost, had to offer. "Do I at least get cut down?"

The switchblade that Lilly produced from behind her back was probably the most familiar weapon that Wallace had ever seen, down to the little copper nick on the bottom of the handle. Lilly really did think of everything. When she stepped up he was able to get a better look at her. Her jeans weren't as tight as he expected them to be, and they flared out at the bottom like Veronica's normally did. Her top, a black lace scrap of cloth that most girls would call a tank top, was covered partially with an open green hooded zip top and a light green denim jacket. He didn't even realize that he was free until the scent of cinnamon was gone.

Lilly had taken a step back, watching as Wallace pulled the tape off of his clothes. "_So this is how you two met_?" She asked curiously.

"You mean V didn't cut you down from a flag pole too?" He asked sarcastically, tilting his head to match hers. "I thought it was tradition."

"_Not__exactly_." Lilly's eyes glazed as if she was thinking of another time, another life, and Wallace decided to let it go. Her return to reality was quick, and she crossed her arms against her chest again. "_So… why am I here_?"

His laugh was ironic, with just a touch of skepticism mixed in. "You invaded _**my**_ dream," he told her harshly. "You tell me."

"_I think you wanted more information on our mutual blonde BFF then you can get from her_." Lilly had taken another step back and she turned on her heel. Wallace hopped off the ledge and followed her. She didn't seem to be paying any attention to the fact that he was right next to her. "_**Me**_on the other hand," she dropped a hand and readdressed him. "_I'll tell you anything you want to know…for a price_."

The feeling was back. "Price?"

Lilly's smile was sickeningly sweet as she flipped her hair over her shoulder. "_I'll answer your questions, if you answer mine_."

It wasn't until they had entered the school that Wallace realized just what Lilly was offering him. It was a virtual free pass into the life Veronica had led before all of the terrible things happened to her. And it looked like Lilly wasn't about to put a limit on his questions.

"How is she?"

The question was so completely out of left field that Lilly actually paused. "_Excuse me_?"

Wallace stopped a second after she did, and turned to face the blonde. Her eyes were blank and her mouth open, and if he wasn't well aware of how good of a con artist the oldest of the Kane siblings was, he might actually have bought the look of innocent shock. Instead he just laughed. "Don't _**even**_ try to give me that," he snorted, shaking his head and crossing his arms against his chest. "You can't honestly tell me that Veronica Watching isn't one of your favorite pastimes." At Lilly's indignant huff, Wallace chuckled. "Hell, I'm almost willing to bet that she trumps Logan on most days."

For a moment, Lilly actually appeared offended. Her green eyes rolled and she had to resist the urge to pummel Veronica's newest BFF. Apparently he wasn't as well-versed in the right way to win Lilly over as she thought he was.

"I'm not asking you to tell me that she spends all day pining over Leo or that she double conditions her hair. I just want to make sure she's okay." The backhand to the chest was probably something that he would have been expecting if it was Veronica beside him. Unfortunately Lilly caught him completely off guard. "What the Hell?"

"_Deputy Dud_?" She took one step back and her arms once again came to cross under her chest. She looked genuinely offended. "_That's the best you could come up with_?" Once again, Lilly turned away from him. "_I should have left you on that flagpole_." She took off down the hall leaving Wallace to trail behind her.

When he turned the corner she had stopped.

It was almost surreal, the way Lilly was looking at a photographic diorama that the journalism class had put together during his senior year. Veronica, Logan and Duncan were displayed in pictures, still as apart as ever. It kind of reminded Wallace of the way things were in his junior year.

"_She's okay,_" Lilly said at last, not looking away from the one happy picture of the three of them at the layout table. "_To a degree_."

Wallace watched her eyes soften and her hand reached out as if she longed to touch the picture in the glass case. "To a degree?"

"_It's all degrees with Veronica isn't it_?" She asked quietly. "_I mean back in elementary school she was the happiest a kid could be. Straight A student, wouldn't even dream of disappointing anyone. But she had the smartest mouth of anyone in her class__," _she stopped, a sense of pride on her face. "_That's how we first met," s_he told him, pointing to the chairs in front the office. "_She had talked back to a teacher in the second grade and they sent her to the office. I practically lived up there_." Lilly laughed softly. "_Middle school brought first crushes and her first kiss, and don't you think for a second that I didn't know she had a thing for Logan_!" She pointed out with a sigh. "_Or__ vise versa._

_There wasn't a time since he moved to Neptune that Logan didn't think our little Veronica Mars hung the moon_" Lilly's eyes glazed and she shook her head as if to clear the memories. "_Even when he was tormenting her I think he still loved her_." Before Wallace knew it they were moving again. "_God, she's changed so much_."

Wallace didn't have to see the look on Lilly's face to know just how right her sentence was. Just from the brief glimpses that Lilly had given him of the girl that they had both been allowed to call their best friend he could just picture the precocious little girl she must have been. The Mars' smart mouth must have caused and gotten her out of more trouble then even he could imagine. And with Lilly right there beside her… God they must have been a pair. He wasn't sure how long they had walked before the image changed, to a bright blonde inquisitive beauty that had to see everything with her own eyes and still kept the innocence that the world didn't afford everyone. She must have been surrounded by boys and potential best friends and still, Wallace knew without reservation that she had only kept her three most trusted by her side. He watched the look on Lilly's face soften without words and suddenly he could envision the Veronica he knew today, tromping through the halls they were in now, broken and alone.

"You still haven't answered my question," Wallace pushed defiantly, frowning when Lilly stopped again, this time outside of an English classroom. If Lilly wasn't going to offer him the rest of the vision that he had conjured in his mind, he was going to force it out of her.

"_If you didn't want to hear what I have to say you'd have woken up by now, Fennel_." Lilly pretended to study her flawless manicure on one hand as she ran the other through her hair. "_That's how this thing works. You called me here to hear about Veronica and all of the little nuances that she won't tell anyone and Logan would kill you for asking. And I'm getting to it_." Her fingers twitched around her hair and she shook her head. "_Patience, my dear Wallace_.

"_There are a few things you need to know before we finish the rest of the question and answer portion of your dream_." She turned on her heel and leveled her gaze full on Wallace. "_First of all, I'm not your friend," _she snapped. "_I'm Veronica's. And since you're Veronica's friend as well, that makes us allies. Sound good to you_?" As Wallace nodded, so did Lilly. "_Secondly, as I'm sure you've noticed, I'm not the kind of girl to share on a whim. What I'm about to tell you is just what I think you need to know. No more, no less._" Wallace didn't have time to respond and Lilly was off again. "_She misses Logan," s_he said quickly. "_And her mother, though I don't think you'll ever get her to admit it. She wishes that her father could move on with his life with a woman that has more then just a pretty face. She wants someone who'll be fair to both of them and kind-hearted when Keith gets in one of the moods that the Mars' are so known for_.

"_She loves Lilly_." There was a hitch in her voice at the name of her niece and namesake. "_She loves Duncan too, but it's not the kind he's looking for, and that disappoints me more then a little. They were supposed to be together forever_." Her steps slowed, almost to the point that Wallace thought that she was going to stop again.

"Why weren't they?"

The laugh that came from Lilly's lips was completely unexpected. Her head tipped back and she couldn't help but clap as her hair shook. "_I thought you were smarter than this_?" Her laugh died off, but her smile stayed. "_I could have told you they would never have a future together the day Celeste dropped the bomb that she could have been our sister. Which would have been totally cool by the way_."

Wallace could tell that there was more, but now more then ever he was hard pressed to know which words would bring them from Lilly's lips. After all, the Lilly Kane of the after life was even more fickle then the Lilly Kane that seemed to live on in the minds of those who loved her. So instead of trying to prompt her, Wallace just stood back, watching the girl that seemed to have been the center of the universe in life.

"_I could have killed them both_." She didn't seem to be looking at anything, which worried Wallace slightly. She had just leaned back against a set of doors and frowned to herself. "_That night at Shelly's_."

He couldn't help but to open his mouth. "Why did she go?"

"_You know Veronica,_" Lilly said slowly. "_She was strong and she needed everyone to know that they couldn't hurt her. Then Dick drugged that drink and Madison handed it off, and Veronica was thrust into a world that no one should ever have had to enter. She got tough. She started hitting back_." The door swung open with a hit of her hip and Lilly led the way outside again. "_And she closed herself off to everyone and anyone that might love her or hurt__her.__Or at least, she tried."_

Once again they were standing in front of the flagpole, the smile on Lilly's face brighter then in any picture. "_Until she met another unfortunate soul who needed her help_." Wallace smiled as well. "_She'll be all right,"_ Lilly finally confirmed, turning her back and walking away from Wallace and the flagpole.

"Wait." The blonde froze, and Wallace sighed. "Didn't you say you had a question for me?"

"_You already answered_ it." With a laugh, she finally turned.

"What was it?"

The look they shared was both informative and secretive. "_She needs you Wallace. Even if she won't admit it_." There was a sad lilt to Lilly's voice that Wallace could tell she didn't even try to hide. "_And she's more grateful for you in her life then she'll ever put into words. We both are_." Lilly readjusted the denim jacket on her shoulders and laughed. "_Promise me you'll take care of her_?"

A smile crept across his face faster then ever and he nodded. "You didn't even have to ask."

With another smile, Lilly was gone.

And Wallace was again taped to the flagpole.

* * *

You know what to do if you want more... Review 


	9. Chapter 8

**Title**: There and Back Again

**Word****Count**: 8,720 chapter eight only

**Rating**: PG-14 for language May change in the future

**Warnings**/**Spoilers**: If you know about the revolving door that is Logan and Veronica's relationship, Cassidy Casablancas' role in the second season, and Mac and Wallace both had roommates; you're more than good to go.

**Summary**: On the first anniversary of Aaron Echolls death, Veronica and Logan decide to finally set their issues to rest, at the Echolls' cabin, with six of their nearest and dearest friends.

**Authors Note**: This chapter goes out to Krazegirl from Without her long as heck review this chapter probably never would have been posted. I expect another one for this. And to my beta. If you're still around I've got another chapter for you.

**Official Disclaimer**: All Veronica Mars characters and plots belong to Rob Thomas and the CW. I do not hold stock either the man or the company. Veronica Mars, Logan Echolls, and any other character featured are NOT mine

* * *

**Chapter Eight: **

_10:12 am_

_Friday, June 15th, 2007_

Keith Mars had never raised his daughter to be a careless. She was impulsive, sure, maybe a little brash. Which was why he was having so much trouble trying to figure out why Veronica would go through so much trouble to bring a man convicted by absentia of kidnapping to California. Duncan Kane was a name that was red flagged in every law enforcement system in the United States and Veronica not only got him into the country, she snuck him in right underneath Neptune's nose. The one city where he was the most recognizable and he just walked right in.

"Part of me is proud."

"Did you say something Boss?" Leo dropped a stack of files onto the desk and picked up a few packets that were laying in Keith's out box. With Inga out sick for the last few days, everyone had to help out when it came to keeping the Sheriff from completely loosing his mind. Today that honor fell almost solely on Leo. He was the only one that Keith would let in his office since he had discovered that less then seven days ago his daughter had brought her ex into the country.

Keith's head shot up when he realized that he wasn't alone and then sighed. "No. I'm just trying to figure out what possessed my child…" He cut himself off, glaring down at the file. "And her cell phones off and I can't figure out which of the cabins they would have went to. Aaron Echolls owned four in the state of California alone."

He watched his boss for another second before picking up the file that Keith was staring at.

"Uh, Leo?"

"You staring at the list of suspects and property locations aren't going to help anyone." The deputy pointed out, closing the file and setting it on top of the others in his hand. "And even if I didn't know Veronica the way I know her I'd still say that your kid probably has at least three contingency plans to get the Kane heirs out of the country before we blink twice."

Keith hated it when other people were right.

* * *

_11:19 am  
Friday, June 15th, 2007_

There were fifteen things on Duncan's 'to do' list for the day, thirteen involved his daughter and making sure she had everything she needed and had plenty of attention. The last two were things he wished that he wouldn't find time for.

Which could be why he was currently sitting on the balcony of Logan's room with a bottle of beer in one hand and an unlit cigarette in the other while his daughter played in the swimming pool with Logan and Dick.

"Either light the damn thing or throw it away." Veronica appeared in the entryway, the curtains billowing behind her in an angelic way that Duncan was sure she never considered. Her smirk seemed to grow as she sat down on the railing next to him. "I should have beat the hell out of Logan when he brought them out the first time."

"If that's the boy's only vice I think he's doing pretty good." Logan dropped Lilly into Dick's arms and Mac huffed when his splash made it up onto the chair where she was reading.

Veronica sighed. "You forgot alcohol." She pointed out the bottle that Logan had set by the pool. "And his need for women."

"The only woman I've seen him need in the last seven days is you." He pointed out carefully. When Veronica shifted on the railing, Duncan almost laughed. "Dare I say his vice is your versa?"

"Dare I say that you and I don't need to get into this conversation?"

Logan laughed and both of their attention was drawn to the pool. "Who else were you planning on having it with?" He asked curiously. "Parker? Mac? Something tells me that you don't want either one of them to know that you're still head over heels for our friend down there."

"I'm not head over heels." She argued stiffly, crossing her arms against her chest. "In fact my heart seems pretty against Logan Echolls at the moment."

"You lied better when we were dating." Duncan's face didn't change as he lit the cigarette and then took a swig of beer.

"You were more clueless before you fled the country." Veronica sent him back the same wry smile. Below them, Mac gave up on her book and covered it with her towel before hopping into the pool with the other three. "So maybe it's my head that's against him."

"It always was." Duncan told her sagely. "Which is probably why you two were so good with each other."

"Guarded." Veronica corrected. "Logan and I were guarded with each other." She bit her lip and frowned. "Which some would say was why we weren't so good with each other."

"Do you remember his relationship with Lilly?" There was a split second when Duncan wondered which one of them were steering the conversation. "They–"

"Please tell me you're not using Logan and Lilly as the perfect couple?" She laughed incredulously. "They were the poster couple for dysfunction."

"At least they knew what they wanted." Duncan shot back. He took a breath and shook his head. "They got what in their minds they knew they wanted."

Veronica laughed. "And they completely ignored how they were tearing each other apart." She pointed out.

Duncan sighed, trying desperately to understand how he of all people had found his way into this conversation with Veronica Mars; and how they had gotten so far off track. "At least your heart knows what it wants." He decided after a moment, handing over his beer bottle and watching Veronica take a long swig. "I mean, even if you're incapable of accepting happiness, at least a part of you is working toward it."

"I accept happiness just fine." The blonde protested, watching from her perch as Mac helped Lilly climb onto Logan's back and he took off toward the other side of the pool, his passenger squealing in delight. "Its just happiness and reality aren't exactly best friends in my world."

"I wonder why?" The squeal from below them negated the sarcasm dripping from Duncan's voice.

"Did you really want to fight with me about Logan today?" She asked offhandedly. Veronica ran a hand over her head and fidgeted with the edges of the layered tank tops that she had grabbed out of her bag this morning.

"We go back to civilization in less then three days, Ronica." He took his bottle back and squared his jaw as he fully looked at her. "They way I see it, they're going to be full of bad conversations."

* * *

_12:45 pm  
Friday, June 15th, 2007_

"That looked intense." Logan handed Duncan the butter knife and grabbed two more slices of bread out of the breadbox.

Duncan shrugged off the comment and set the knife in the sink, grabbing for the glasses. The girls had demanded a picnic, and it was common knowledge that when that group of girls wants something, there wasn't a man in the joint powerful enough to say no to them. "What looked intense?" He asked after he realized Logan was no longer reaching for the turkey but staring at the top of his head.

"You and Ronnie." He watched recognition flicker in Duncan's eyes before he turned away to grab the Tupperware off of the table. "When we had 'Lil in the pool you two looked…" He trailed off, not too sure where he was supposed to go from there.

"It was nothing, dude." Duncan dropped two veggie sandwiches in the tub with Mac's name Sharpied onto the top and closed the lid. "Ronnie was giving me the no smoking lecture again and I was trying hard not to tell her that I'm almost twenty years old with a kid and if I want to I will."

"Cool." Logan turned his back on his friend and grabbed the tub of ham from the counter behind him. "Now what did you really talk about?"

Duncan was glad he didn't stumble like he used to when confronted by his friends. This would have been a longer conversation then he would have wanted. "That doesn't work anymore Logan." He reached for the knife again, slicing up the sandwich in front of him into eight pieces and place each piece into the tub with his daughters name on it. "Veronica was just being Veronica."

"And you of course are Duncan." Logan almost spat out. He understood that he didn't need to know everything that went on in the house, but whatever it was that Duncan and Veronica had said to each other had put their mutual ex on almost permanent alert. This was supposed to be a weekend of relaxation for everyone.

"Good to know we don't need nametags." Mac hopped into the room, toddler on her hip and grabbed for the sippy cup that they seemed to keep on standby in the kitchen. "You ladies planning on getting this show on the road or are we going to stand in here and keep this pissing contest going?"

Lilly clapped her hands and almost flew out of Mac's arms when Duncan held out his. "You want to trade with me?" He asked the tech. "See if you can get Logan here back on track?"

With Duncan out of the room, mumbling about being in search of Dick, Mac turned to her best friends other ex. "You two are worse then you and Veronica." She told him carefully, picking up the Tupperware containers that Duncan had already filled and setting them into the insolated picnic basket.

"And what do you mean?" Logan had come to respect Mac in more ways then one over the last few years of their awkward friendship, but he didn't pretend to understand her.

"Drop the bull shit Echolls." Mac dropped an empty Tupperware onto the counter and flipped it over so she could read the name on it. "You and I both know that you're only pissed off because he's upset Veronica somehow."

"I'm not-"Mac's glare caught him off guard. He flexed his jaw and bit down on his lip as he cut up one of Veronica's sandwiches and set them in her designated tub. "Why are you in here talking to me about this?"

"You're not going to talk to Dick, you pick fights with Duncan, and Hell's gonna freeze over before you admit to Veronica that you and Duncan are arguing about her." Mac closed the lid on Veronica's tub and she packed up the last of the Tupperware while Logan busied himself with cleaning up the condiments and the bread. "I thought you could use a little company." She shot back, their conversation from five days ago ringing in his ears. She grabbed the loaded basket and snapped it shut, before double checking the cooler. "I'm here if you need an ear."

She was almost out of the kitchen when Logan coughed, pulling her back in. "Can you keep a secret?"

Her eye widened and Mac shook her head. "Did you really just ask me that question?"

He laughed with some sort of absurd embarrassment and when Mac's eyebrows rose again he shook his head. "I think there's something going on between Duncan and Veronica."

It was Mac's turn to laugh. The noise was loud and cheerful, and they were almost certain that everyone in the house most likely heard it. "And I'm sleeping with Dick." She threw out, picking up the basket that she had dropped a moment before. "That's pretty high on the stupidest thing someone's said this weekend countdown Logan."

"As long as you were the only one who heard it."

Logan grabbed the cooler off of the counter and wrapped an arm around the tech. "So you've bagged both Casablancas brothers?" He asked, keeping his voice light. It was the first time he had tried broaching the subject of Cassidy with the brunette since their first trip to the lake as a group.

"I'm all about the status." Mac leaned into Logan and smiled. "If this thing with him doesn't pan out I'm coming for you."

"I'll be waiting." Logan puckered his lips for a moment and blew a kiss at her.

* * *

2:17_ pm  
Friday, June 15th, 2007_

"Veronica, honey, it's your dad. Give me a call when you get this."

Veronica made sure to turn her phone off before she flipped her Sidekick shut. When she called him later she would have to make sure it wasn't on a landline. Duncan still had his disposable cell here. And they hadn't charged the new number that she was going to send with him when they dropped him off at the airport.

"Who was it?"

The sound of Wallace's voice almost sent Veronica into the lake, but she clipped her phone to her hip holster as she took a calming breath. "Dad again." She forced herself to keep her voice neutral. She took the drink he offered her and laughed. "You'd think he'd realize that I can take care of myself now."

"That's not what he's worried about." Wallace said knowingly as he took a swig of his water. "Any idea on which out we're gonna try first?"

"We're not." She moved with him back towards the blankets and ran a hand through her hair. "Logan and Duncan out voted me." She explained. "We're toughing this out and playing the exit by ear."

"And I'm gonna guess you're not too happy with that one."

Veronica looped her free arm through her best friends and practically pulled him onto the blanket with her when she plopped down. "I'm not happy with any situation where I have to give up control."

"Ain't that the truth." Logan threw himself down on top of one of the oversized pillows that Parker had forced Piz and Duncan to lug out and he took the beer out of Veronica's hand, taking a swig and handing it back. When Duncan sat down next to Veronica, Logan's smile dropped. "DK long time no see."

"Logan-"

Duncan cut Veronica off. "What pisses you off more Echolls?" He asked harshly, more than glad that Parker and Dick had taken Lilly to the water. Duncan had sent Piz after about ten minutes after with a towel on the off chance that Lilly wound up in the lake. "The fact that once upon a time I nailed your girlfriend, or that I had Clarence nail your dad?"

It took half a breath for Logan to be upright again, his hands braced behind him. "What the fuck dude."

"Duncan." Veronica was on her feet before Logan, putting herself between her exes. Mac had made her way over to the group from where the picnic basket had been set up and Wallace was still on his rear on the blanket. She turned to Logan and then back to the instigator, praying that Dick was smart enough not to come running back with the baby in tow. "What the hell are you doing?" She asked through clenched teeth.

"Getting through to Logan." He murmured back before putting a hand on Veronica's shoulder. "Trust me." He turned his attention to Logan and an eyebrow rose. "You planning on answering me?"

"I don't know what you're trying to do, but it's not going to work."

"I'm trying to get you to get mad Logan." Duncan side stepped Veronica and put himself between his ex and his best friend. "You haven't said more then a handful of words to me since last night, and when you did, it was about her." His hand shot out behind him and touched Veronica's shoulder. "So tell me. Which bothers you more?"

He tried to keep his voice controlled, really he did. Logan had no idea what had gotten into his friend, but he sure as hell wasn't going to drag this issue out in front of strangers. "Why are you doing this man?" Logan took a step back and almost tripped over Wallace.

"Because sooner or later you're going to have to deal with the fact that I had Aaron killed." He took a step towards Logan and held out his hands. "And I don't know about everyone else, but when you get pissed I want you to be pissed at me."

And there it was.

"I'm not going to get pissed." Logan said after a moment. The amazing part of it all was the fact that he actually meant it.

"Logan." Duncan shook his head. "Come on."

"I'm not getting pissed." Logan said again harshly. "There's nothing to get pissed about." He stopped, took a deep breath and blew it out of his mouth. "Aaron's dead. I made my peace with that a long time ago." Logan ran a hand over his hair and took another step away from Duncan. "Finding out that you had your family's hired gun take care of him doesn't make him any less dead. And it doesn't make him any more or less of the man he was."

The five on the blanket just stared at each other. It was almost surreal the way Logan readjusted his shirt and bend at the waist to pick up his beer bottle off of the blanket. Of all of the people that were expected to be calm and collected, Logan Echolls was at the bottom of the list. "I'm sorry man." Duncan said after a second, trying his hardest to find something else that he could say.

Without warning Logan's fist connected with Duncan's jaw and the Kane heir fell backwards onto the pillows and blankets behind him.

"What the –"

"Logan!"

Logan flexed his fist a few times, testing the damage and after he drained his beer bottle he dropped it on the grass and reached his uninjured hand out to help his friend up. "And now we're even for the girlfriend comment."

When Duncan laughed, everyone seemed to breathe again.

Wallace didn't move as Logan helped Duncan sit up and then flop back into his own seat. "One of these days you white boys are going to learn to talk shit out."

"And on that day Ronnie'll ask for help." Logan told them quickly, pulling the top off of the wine cooler she was trying to open and handing it back to her. "We cool DK?"

Duncan nodded, touching his tender eye lightly and trying to figure out just how big of a bruise Logan left. "We're cool."

* * *

4:54_ pm  
Friday, June 15th, 2007_

When Keith was told that he had a phone call not six minutes before he was supposed to be out of the office, he knew there was only one person that it could have been. He didn't even hesitate as he picked up the phone in his office and chose the appropriate line. "Hello daughter."

"Hello father." Veronica held the ice pack to Duncan's head and shushed him when he tried to protest. The last thing she needed was Keith to listen to her perform her own form of triage on the two men in the kitchen. "You left me a voicemail."

"I left you three, kiddo." Keith kept his voice light even as he was throwing a pen into the hallway. Leo picked it off of the floor in front of his desk and brought it back into Keith's office. "I just haven't heard from you in a while and I wanted to make sure everything was okay."

"Everything's fine." She dropped onto the table and laughed when Logan pulled her into his lap and held his hand up for inspection. "I think you'll live."

Keith stopped. "I'll what?"

Rolling her eyes Veronica took the ice pack that Logan had been holding and deliberately placed it in his lap as she stood. "I was talking to Logan. He and Dick got a little rough in the lake this afternoon." She tapped Duncan on the head when she said the blonde surfer's name. She didn't think twice when she poured herself a drink. Her father was looking for abnormalities in her surroundings nothing else. "I think Logan bruised his knuckle if you're interested."

"Mr. Casablancas has a hard head." Keith wrote down what his daughter just told him and turned the legal pad around for Leo to see. "It's good to know that Logan will be okay."

"He's being a baby about it, but he'll be fine." She took a swig of her juice and smiled. "Did you need anything else, or just a confirmation that I'm still breathing?"

Keith knew the game his daughter was playing. If he actually thought he could get a hit on her location through this call he would be tracing her already. "I can't just make sure my daughter is happy and healthy?" He asked with a forced smile.

"I'm fine." She told him truthfully, and looking back and forth between her exes she realized that she wasn't lying. "I'll be home in three days." It took a second of breath for Veronica to force herself to remain calm. "Then you'll get plenty of daddy/daughter time before I have to be on a plane to DC okay?"

"Whatever you say, dear." Keith hung up the phone before his daughter could, not willing to give up what little edge he thought he held on his kid.

Veronica dropped the disposable phone on the counter and glared at it. "He hung up on me." She announced to the room. "I can't freaking believe it. He hung up on me."

"Your dad probably knows there are three of us in this room right now." Logan took the ice pack off of his knuckles and dropped it on the table. He grabbed a piece of fruit from the middle of the table and contemplated it for a moment before putting it back. "He's trying to get to you before you figure it out."

She wished she could say her father wasn't like that. Really, Veronica wished in a way that her father wasn't like that. Then again if he wasn't, then everyone else could turn their phones back on without fear that Keith Mars and the Neptune Sheriff's department was going to track them. Then again, without a father like Keith Mars, Veronica was damn sure she would be the way she was now. "He's trying to get me to slip." She said after a second. "He can't find us so he hopes we'll panic and come to him."

"Your father apparently doesn't know us as well as he thinks he does." Duncan tipped his beer bottle at his ex and smiled. "I honestly don't know which one of our stubborn streaks are larger in here."

Parker chose that moment to enter the room, Lilly in tow. "She won't go down." She told the room as she handed the child to her father. "I've been in there with her for almost an hour."

"It's fine Parker." Duncan waved off Logan's other ex and smiled down at his daughter. "You're just as wound up as the rest of us aren't you?" When Lilly giggled, Duncan set his beer bottle on the counter to keep from accidentally spilling it. "What am I going to do with you?"

Veronica held her hands above Duncan's head and laughed when Lilly tried to climb her father to get to her new best friend. "I don't guess you want another story?"

"She'll just pass out earlier tonight." Duncan shook his head. He had learned not to regulate a naptime for his daughter. Lilly never really became a fussy child when she hadn't slept so it never became a true issue. "We just have to make sure to get food in that belly before like six." Even as he spoke he was tickling the child's sides.

"Which reminds me." Veronica cocked her hip and rested Lilly against it. "What are we doing for dinner?"

"I'll cook." Parker piped up, tickling Lilly's foot and moving around the counter. "It's about time we all share the kitchen right?"

Before Veronica could protest, Logan was behind her, scooting her to the other side of Duncan. "Sounds like a great idea. We're going to go see if we can't get the kiddo to sleep." He half dragged half pulled Veronica to the entryway to the kitchen. He spun her around and shoved her out into the hallway, swatting her rear to get her moving away from Duncan and Parker.

* * *

5:30_ pm  
Friday, June 15th, 2007_

Dick wasn't supposed to have fallen asleep.

He had been lying on the floor of the den watching Mac kick Piz's butt at classic street fighter and he never expected to actually doze off. And when he did fall asleep he never expected to open his eye to the past.

He was now lying on his back on a lounger by the pool of his father's home, a place that he could honestly say he hadn't been for at least a year. Even with Dick Sr. back in town he hadn't returned to his childhood home, preferring to meet his father anywhere where they hadn't gone as a family. The white deck chairs were still by the pool, which meant that he was dreaming of a time before his brother took his swan dive. He'd taken a baseball bat to the pool furniture shortly after, trying to cleanse his brothers spirit from the house. The new cabana hadn't been put up either, which meant that Kendall hadn't made it into the house yet.

"_And I'm still alive_." His attention was pulled to the other side of the pool where, clad in a pastel pink Kenneth Cole halter bikini and pleated skirt bottom, Lilly Kane was waving at him. "_I knew you dreamt about me_."

"Lillian Kane." Dick sat up on the lounger and pulled his feet up closer to his body. "Of all the dead people I know – "

"_You don't have to insult me by pointing out this is the first time I've graced the dreams of the mighty Casablancas since my demise_." Lilly ran a hand over her body and began to move around the pool, grabbing one of the over stuffed terry cloth robes off of the side table by the back door as she moved. "_Although that just means your smarter then you look. You knew that even dead you had no chance with me_."

Dick shifted and tugged at his shirt, thankful that he was at least dressed the damn way he was on the floor in the cabin. There were plenty of more creative scenarios that Lilly could have painted them in. "What do you want?"

"_You're more of a right-to-the-point kind of guy then I remembered_." She slid the robe around her shoulders and dropped down onto the steps, her feet in the water. "_I can't just visit an old friend_?"

"Let me think." Dick shifted in his seat and shook his head. "No." He had over heard Duncan and Logan talking about Duncan's dream of Lilly, and he had no idea that it would mean he would get a visit from Casper the slutty spirit as well. "What's this trip inside my head for 'Lil."

Lilly kicked her feet and blinked. Of all the conversations she had had over the week, she never expected Dick's to be anything but easy. Then again, she wasn't there for Dick. "_I'm just the opening act brain trust."_ She spat, kicking water at him. She ran a hand through her hair and tugged the ends on the way down. "_I'm the thing you want to remember you saw at the end of this_."

"Why you?" He dropped his feet off of either side of the lounger and leaned forward. "Kendall's dead, so's like a dozen of the kids from the bus." It was his turn to run his hand over his hair. "Why do I get to see you?"

"_Recurring theme_." Lilly said after a moment. "_I'm the thing all the bad things fear_." When Dick's eyebrows rose she tossed her hair to the side. "I was first." She tried again. "_Before the bus, before Aaron and the dean_." She drew in an unneeded breath and sighed. "_Before__Cassidy_."

_I'm the opening act._ Her voice rang in his head and he froze. There was only one person that he could think of that Lilly might be _opening_for. "He's here?" He asked carefully.

Lilly nodded. "_He will be_." She confirmed.

The back door opened and Lilly ran her hand through her hair again. "_I'll be here if you need me_." She said seriously, for the first time looking like she actually care about the elder Casablancas brother. "_After_…" She kicked her feet one more time.

But Dick was no longer paying attention. His eyes were glue on the back door and the silhouette of his brother standing under the awning. When he finally stepped into the light, Dick forgot what it meant to breathe.

He was wearing jeans, the same tan pair with the scuffs on the back of the cuffs that came from wearing them too long, that he had died in. Dick remembered with an odd fondness that he used to joke his little brother about the fact that you could tell which pairs were his favorite. He was in layers again, a style choice that he seemed to have copied from Logan that just fit with his personality. The more Dick looked at him, the more he realized that this was what he was wearing before he wasn't there anymore.

"_Dick_."

His brother's voice cut through the air even though it seemed like the little boy in front of him never moved his lips. He tried to move his own. Honestly Dick could think of fifteen different things that he wanted to say to his brother but his mouth wouldn't open. Sound wouldn't come out.

"_I__know_ – "

Finally his voice reappeared, and Dick's arms reached out to shove his brother before he could stop himself. "You don't know anything!" He shouted, stepping forward to propel his baby brother backwards another step. "You're not here."

"_I am_." Cassidy held up his hands and watched his brother freeze. After all the time he had thought about this, planned out what he was going to say and how, he never thought that seeing his brother again would be this way. This was the reaction he had reserved for the one he was too chicken to face. "_I'm here_." He confirmed. "_Dick, I don't want to take a lot of time so I need you to listen to me_."

"What could you possibly have to say to me right now?" The taller of the two Casablancas boys turned away from his brother and took a few steps back to where he had started from. For half a second he could swear he could still see the imprint of where Lilly had been by the pool.

"_I forgive you_." He said after a moment.

It took less then a second for Dick to flash to the conversation that he had with Mac the day before. "I know you do bro." He said after a moment. Listening to Mac tell him the exact same thing in his mind. "That's probably the one thing I'm sure of with you standing here in front of me." He ran a hand over his head and laughed. "And I know you're wasting your time."

"_I want to tell you why I did__it_."

Cassidy took a step forward and Dick took another step back. "I don't care." Dick watched his brother falter, noticing that probably for the first time in a long time he was the brother who knew what he was doing. "You're sorry, you love me, you wish you would have stopped and thought of all of this through." He was talking too fast and he couldn't keep what was in his head from coming out. He turned, moving further away from his brother and closer to where Lilly had been. "Just tell me one thing."

Cassidy nodded.

"Why lock Mac in your the suite?" Dick didn't know what possessed him to ask about the tech. Maybe it was the fact that he was getting the one chance she never would. "What were you punishing her for?"

"_How many girls would you know would leave a hotel naked_?" Cassidy posed the question even as he shrugged. "_Cindy wouldn't_." He answered, pulling his hands out of his pockets. "_It was the only way I knew to keep her in there. To keep her safe."_

"That was probably the one good thing you did that night." Dick turned to face his brother, still caught somewhere between anger, pain and confusion. His eyes scanned the back yard again and he shook his head. "I want to wake up now."

"_You get one chance to talk to your brother and that's it_?" Lilly appeared over his shoulder, and Dick had to resist the urge to vomit. "_You ask him __**that**__ and then you're ready to leave_?"

There wasn't an answer that Dick could think of that didn't sound like the idiot that he was thought to be. "He forgives me, I forgive him. I don't want to know why he did it." He looked from Lilly to Cassidy and back again. "Can I just wake up?"

"_This is our only chance Dick_." Cassidy moved around his brother to stand in front of Lilly. "_This could be the only time I have_."

"Then you picked the wrong one to explain it to, Beav." Dick held his hand out and blinked. "I may not know what you were thinking, or how you were feeling, but I gave up asking all of my questions yesterday." He wiped his eyes and tried to remember when he started crying. He was going to have to wake up soon. There wasn't much more of this that he could take. "You're my brother. I love you." Cassidy mouthed the words back and Dick looked to Lilly. "I want to wake up now."

Lilly nodded.

Before she could put a hand on his brother, Cassidy coughed. "_I need you to do something for me_!" He said quickly, watching his brother's eyes widen. "_I never begged you for anything, Dick. I need you to do something for me_."

Dick turned back to his brother and just stared.

"_Look after Cindy_." He knew it was absurd to even think about asking the question. His brother and his former girlfriend had never run in the same circles until Veronica and Logan had merged theirs. Even as he was nodding, they both knew he was asking why. "_Easy answer_?" Again his brother nodded and Cassidy smiled. "_Because I asked you too. And she got you to stop blaming yourself._"

"So I owe her?" Dick's lips pulled back into an odd smile.

"_No_." Cassidy touched his brothers shoulder and smiled. "_I do. I love you big brother_."

When his eyes opened he was looking up into a pair of slate grey eyes. "Dick?"

The surfer couldn't help the smile that came to his face. "Mac?" He asked off handedly, watching as she leaned back on her heels and nudged the controller away from her foot.

"You okay?"

Their eyes locked and he smiled again.

* * *

_7:18 pm_

_Friday, June 15th, 2007_

"One more game, and I think I just might have to lock you in the closet." Logan dropped down onto the floor and laughed when Veronica scooted herself across the room on her rear to drop her legs into his lap.

"We're getting to know each other." Parker almost shouted, reaching across the bed to steal some popcorn out of Mac's bowl. The tech popped her hand and shook her head.

Duncan laughed. "I've got to watch Dick get pantsed when we were in the third grade, and Logan and I have shared more then one toilet bowl bonding experience." He informed the room with a grimace. Even Logan seemed a little ashamed of the fact that most of his pre-college partying ended with either he and Dick or Duncan curled up on the bathroom floor at the end of the night. "I think I know more than I need to about the people in this room."

Parker frowned before turning to the other blonde female in the room. "It was Veronicas' idea." She threw out, watching everyone in the room turn to the tiny detective. In that moment she realized that no matter what they may say to disagree with her, they would all still cooperate.

"If we really want to get technical, it was Lilly's idea." Veronica sat up and grabbed the drink closest to her on the floor. When she took a swig, she noted the smirk that Duncan was giving her. Whether it was for the fact that her idea had come out of Lilly Kane's 'Let's Get to Know Each Other' handbook, or that Veronica had stolen Logan's water, Duncan honestly couldn't say. "She came up with the idea when we were in pep-"

"I remember those uniforms…" Logan allowed his back to drop all the way to the floor before Veronica had a chance to actually hit him in the head.

"We take turns saying a word." Veronica rolled her eyes and completely ignores her ex or the fact that Logan was trying to pull himself off of the floor. "And then everyone else takes turns saying their definition of the word." Dick wiggled his eyebrow. "Jackass."

"Dick." Logan said pointedly.

Again, Veronica ignored him. "I'll go first." She took a deep breath and looked around the room. There were plenty of words that Lilly had used that she could repeat. She was sure to get colorful answers no matter what she chose. "Okay."

"You want the definition of the word 'okay?'" Mac asked after a second, smiling when Veronica nodded. "Having the strong desire to draw a warm bath and slit my wrists." She shoved a handful of popcorn into her mouth and blinked slowly.

Duncan nudged the tech's leg with his foot and shook his head. Mac rolled her eyes and Duncan shrugged. "Are you okay?"

"Bite me Kane."

"I'm curious Logan…" Wallace said quickly, knowing that when Mac and Duncan got started they would all be glad that they had laid Lilly down for the night. They may not be malicious, but there wasn't a person in the room without a sarcastic streak a mile wide. "What's your definition of a 'random hook-up'?"

He couldn't stop himself from laughing. He and Lily had gone over this numerous times, and the analogies had only seemed to get worse as they went. Looking down to Veronica he bumped his forehead to hers. "A random hook-up, my dear Wallace, is like a half eaten sandwich in the fridge." Duncan's face split into a grin as he recalled which drunken conversation this analogy had come from. "You don't know who ate it last, but you know that it's 2 am and you're starving."

The room erupted into laughter and even Dick had the sense to turn red at the fact that it was true for him as well. "They almost never agree with you either." Dick pointed out. "Kinda like that sandwich."

"What is love?"

Veronica turned her head to look at her ex-boyfriends. Duncan had posed the question, but Logan was the one that laughed. "We're playing the abbreviated version here Ronnie." He pulled her all the way into his lap using her hips as leverage and rested his head on hers. "It's your turn to answer."

"Love…" Veronica took another swig of her drink and chuckled. "Love is a perky elf dancing a merry little jig." She pointed the mouth of her bottle at her two best friends and smirked. "Then suddenly he turns on you with a miniature machine gun."

"Coincidently it's also what you get when you take the first two letters of each of your first names." Wallace looked over at Mac and smiled ironically. Of course they had come up with that one drunken night before finals, but both had agreed that it was something never to be shared with the former lovers." Mac almost looked upset that Wallace had beat her to it

"Remind me why I hang out with these people?" Veronica shifted her weight to turn to look at Logan fully.

From his perch on the other side of the room, Duncan offered helpfully. "Junior year they were the only ones that would talk to you?"

She flipped him off long before she thought it would only encourage him. "Thank you." She dropped her hands into her lap and sighed. "I'm okay now."

It was Mac's turn to flip Veronica off and the room laughed.

"Fuck Buddy." The entire room turned to look at Parker and she smiled innocently as if she'd never spoken.

"You want to know the definition of what?" Wallace dropped his empty bottle of beer on the carpet and slid it across the room to Duncan to add to the trash bag.

Parker readjusted herself on the bed and rolled her eyes. "You heard me."

"A fuck buddy," Logan repeated loudly, "is a girl – " When Mac growled he coughed. "**Or** guy you probably dated once or twice and it didn't go anywhere. But the sex is so great you sort of… keep them on call."

"Like a Dial-a-"

"Dick." Mac cut the surfer off before they all got to hear just what he thought about women.

If Duncan laughed any longer he was scared he was going to pull something. "Lilly would have loved this." He said at last, when he was able to find his breath.

"She probably would have preferred the fist fight this afternoon be about her though." Mac shot out; grabbing a handful of popcorn from the bowl Parker was trying to steal.

Logan laughed and pulled the ottoman behind him. He turned it to face long ways against his back and leaned against it. "In absence of Lilly, a Veronica scandal was just as good." He told the room sagely. "And anytime Duncan and I were on the outs Lilly was a happy girl." He rolled his eyes ad Veronica shifted against him. "She was kind of sick like that."

"Do either of you realize how close you are right now?" Parker used the hand full of popcorn to point to Logan and Veronica. The smaller of the two had curled into an odd pretzel in her exes lap and Logan's arms were gently draped on her shoulders. It looked like the most normal thing in the world. "How do you do that?"

Veronica scooted out of Logan's lap even as Duncan set his beer bottle on the floor. "It's Ronnie's thing." He explained to the room. "She finds the person she's most comfortable with in the room and she latches on." When Veronica glared at him, he smirked. "I remember her and Lilly getting all cuddly during a movie night."

"That was to keep Logan and Lilly from going at it during the movie." She tried to rebuff, even as her leg slid back over Logan's. "I'm not always like that!"

"You used to cuddle up to me during movie night, Superfly." Wallace joined in. "And when you and homeboy were together, it was Duncan that you'd wrap yourself around."

Logan patted her on the head and laughed. "I think they have your number Sugarpuss."

"At least I don't talk in my sleep." She shot back at Logan.

"You're really turning this into a thing?" Logan turned her around to face him using her hips and crossed his arms against his chest.

"No thing." She insisted, mimicking her ex and leaning back against his bent leg. "It's a shame the great Logan Echolls isn't more of a mystery-"

Before she could say more, Duncan shook his head. "We're not starting that tonight." He decided, crossing his arms and pointing at his two best friends on the floor. "If Logan and I can't have our pissing contest, you don't get to start one of your own."

"Who's pissing?" Veronica asked, tilting her head to the side only to have Logan physically straighten it. "I just happen to think that Logan's the more transparent one in the room."

Wallace leaned forward and plucked the beer bottle from her hand. "How much have you had to drink tonight?" He asked with a grin.

"I'm perfectly sober." Veronica protested.

That was all Logan needed to start laughing. "I think Lilly's not the only one who's gonna call it an early night." He decided, using the ottoman behind him to prop himself up as he stood, bending to pick up the tiny detective at his feet. "First one up wakes me up." He all but demanded. "I can't handle another cup of amateur coffee.'

Duncan was up as well, trying to hide his grin when Veronica protested for all of three seconds to being in Logan's arms. "Say good night Veronica."

"Bit me Kane." She quoted from earlier, burying her head in Logan's shoulder and pouting.

Logan didn't even spare a glance at the rest of the room as he left, moving to take Veronica down the stairs. "Night."

Mac slid off of the bed and between Wallace and Dick on the floor. "That was an interesting development." She commented, stealing a Twizler from the pile next to Dick's leg and throwing a grin up to Duncan. "If we're in Logan's room where is he going to sleep tonight?"

"I'm getting back in the pool." Dick didn't want to think about what could or couldn't be taking place in Veronica's room. He kicked his beer bottle over to the pile and helped Mac stand. "Who's up for night swimming?"

"Five bucks says we don't see either of them again tonight." Parker slid her yoga shorts off to reveal her swim suit and tossed the pants in the direction of her and Mac's room as she followed Dick to the stairs.

Duncan pulled his shirt over his head and dropped it onto Logan's bed. He and Wallace exchanged glances and he blinked. "She wasn't that drunk." He reminded his ex's best friend.

"I wonder if Logan knew that?"


	10. Chapter 9

**Title**: There and Back Again

**Word** **Count**:

**Rating**: PG-14 for language May change in the future

**Warnings**/**Spoilers**: If you know that Veronica and Logan broke up, Logan asked Parker out and Cassidy Casablancas' role in the second season; you're more than good to go.

**Summary**: On the second anniversary of Aaron Echolls death, Veronica and Logan decide to finally set their issues to rest, at the Echolls' cabin, with six of their nearest and dearest friends.

**Official Disclaimer**: All Veronica Mars characters and plots belong to Rob Thomas and the CW. I do not hold stock either the man or the company. Veronica Mars, Logan Echolls, and any other character featured are NOT mine.

**Chapter Nine: **

* * *

_8:20 am_  
_Saturday, June 16th, 2007_

All Duncan could do was smile when he wandered into Veronica's room to get his daughter ready for the day. When he had first gotten up to take his shower, he noticed that Logan wasn't in the bedroom that the boys had been sharing. Unlike the night before, he couldn't blame it on the fact that he had left the older boy asleep in another part of the house. He had shrugged it off though, it wasn't the first time that Logan had come in after he'd been asleep and been the first awake the next morning. That led Duncan into Veronica's room, and the scene before him.

Logan was sprawled across the bed on his stomach, a habit that had grown from years of Aaron's belts to his back, the comforter covering him snuggly from the waist down. Curled into his side, almost to the point of being pinned down, was Veronica. Her hair was down, something that Duncan had never gotten used to, and one hand was clutching where his met her hip. If it weren't for the fact that Veronica's yoga pants were visible from underneath the sheet and that she was in one of his hoodies, Duncan would have thought that he would have to have a discussion with his two best friends about things that shouldn't be done with his daughter in the room.

The second Lilly cleared the side of the sleeper on the other side of the room, Duncan knew that Logan was awake. He turned, bouncing his daughter on his hip, and smiled over at Logan. "Do I have to ask?"

"I'd feel a hell of a lot better if you didn't." The blonde returned, letting go of Veronica's hip and shifting to pull his legs out from underneath hers without waking her up. Despite what she claimed, Veronica could probably sleep through a riot. "Anyone else up?"

"I heard the shower running on my way down." He bounced slightly to keep Lilly focused more on the movement then the fact that she still hadn't been removed from a room where she was supposed to be quiet. "All of the doors were closed though, so I'm not sure who it was."

Once he extracted himself from the tiny blonde on the bed, Logan readjusted his crumpled track pants and grabbed his shirt from the floor. He honestly didn't remember when in the night he'd taken if off, but Veronica being fully clothed meant that he had done it himself. "My money's on Mac." He tucked the blankets back in around Veronica and didn't look back on his way to the door.

When they hit the kitchen, Logan headed straight to the coffee pot, pulling a filter out of the cabinet above it and retrieving the coffee from the freezer. He pulled three mugs out of the cabinet when he set the pot to drip and grabbed two glasses while Duncan pulled the grapefruit juice out of the fridge. "Two more days." He threw out, pouring the juice into the cups and handing Logan the milk for Lilly's sippy cup. "Two more days before we're back to civilization and what passes for our lives."

"I'll talk to Ronnie when before she goes to DC." Logan wasn't looking at his best friend as he shuffled around the kitchen, trying his hardest to stay focused on breakfast. "Maybe we can meet up again before school starts up again."

"Can we leave the roommates at home?" Duncan asked with a quirk of his eyebrow. "Don't get me wrong, Parker's not at all what I expected her to be, and I don't mind the fact that she's more hyper-happy then Lilly used to be, and you know I love Wallace, but – "

"It's Piz." Logan cut him off, pulling another glass out of the cabinet to his right and tried to force a smile for Wallace's roommate. He watched Piz pull the orange juice out of the fridge and smile back. "How'd you sleep man?"

Piz shrugged, capping the juice and mumbling something akin to the word 'fine,' as he shuffled back out of the room.

"As I was saying," Duncan grabbed a banana off of the table and cut it in half before he peeled it, setting it down onto the top of Lilly's high chair. "I'd prefer it if it were just us." He finished.

"Shouldn't be a problem." Logan said after a moment, pulling the eggs from the fridge. "Dick's going to be spending the end of summer in Catalina before Big Dick goes to jail. Wallace is going to Africa with Invisible Children until the week before school starts." He ran a count of everyone else in the cabin. "Veronica's only supposed to be gone for eight weeks, so I'll go through the schedules and see what we can come up with." He turned toward the stove and pulled the mixing bowl out of the cabinet. "You, me, Ronnie and 'Lil Lilly, you just have to pick the locale."

"I don't get to come on secret missions anymore?" Mac seemed to appear out of nowhere, kissing Lilly on the top of the head and pulling her wet hair out of her eyes. She thought about going back up stairs to get her hair clip, but shook the thought out of her head when Logan's eyebrows rose.

He dropped some of the bell peppers that he had started to fry up for her in lieu of bacon in the skillet and bumped his chin to the top of her head. "And what is Bronson going to think about us jetting you off to some place in the south of France for a week or so?" Mac rolled her eyes and Duncan laughed as she scooted by him to be the first to the coffee pot. "Or your parents?"

"And how are you planning on explaining to Keith that you and his daughter are going somewhere in the south of France for a week?" She prompted, running a hand through her hair and cocked an eyebrow. "If you thought he was going to get suspicious over this little trip you ain't seen nothing yet." She snagged a piece of pepper off of the plate next to Logan's elbow and headed over to the table, taking the business section out of Duncan's hand on her way.

"Are you trying to tell me that Veronica and I can't convince Keith that we're just taking a friendly vacation together?" For a split second, Logan looked hurt.

"I'm trying to tell you that Dick and I happen to lend a little credibility to whatever crazy story that you tell to Sheriff Mars." She paused for a moment and then looked over at Lilly. "And I just used 'Dick' and 'credibility' in the same sentence, didn't I"

Duncan laughed, "It sounded good too."

She toyed with the top of Lilly's head and sighed. "Does this mean I get to go?"

"This means we'll talk about it."

Even if Logan hadn't confirmed it, Mac knew a victory when she saw one.

* * *

2_:49 pm_  
_Saturday, June 16th, 2007_

"The rules to this are simple." Logan stood in the middle of the group on the front porch and turned in a circle to make sure everyone could see him. "Everything you say must be a question, and you must ask the question to a specific person." Before Veronica could raise her hand he turned and pointed at her. "And not the person who just asked you something. You have ten seconds to respond, and you can never actually answer a question, just keep them going." He looked to Duncan and then to Mac. "Anyone have a problem with this?"

Mac shook her head and turned to Duncan. "Aren't you supposed to be in Australia?"

Duncan nodded, looked to Logan and laughed. "Didn't you give me VD?"

The entire porch laughed as Veronica clapped. In all actuality, if someone had given Duncan an STD chances were pretty high that it had been her. And the sad part was Duncan was probably one of the only two people out there that didn't know where it had come from. "Are you happy?" Logan had turned to Veronica and she didn't hesitate before turning to Parker.

"What do you want to be when you grow up?"

Parker paused and coughed, and when Logan started laughing she knew she was out. "You always think you're going to be so good at this sort of thing until you're called on." She told the group. "Who's next?"

"I'll take it." Dick took a swig of his beer and turned to Mac. "If we aren't supposed to eat animals, why are they made of meat?"

Mac snorted, turning to Veronica. "What am I, flypaper for freaks?"

Veronica fixed her gaze on Logan and when his smiled turned cocky, hers only got wider. Their banter had been harsh over the years, but over the last week, she and Logan had gotten back to the sweetness that they had had long before Lilly had been gone. Granted they were a bit more physical then they had been back then. Her eyes cut to Duncan and then back to her target. "Do you want to kiss me?"

He swallowed, leaning back against the railing and turning to Piz. "Did I miss something?" He asked smoothly, trying to resist the urge to readjust the necklace at his throat.

Piz laughed, nodding to Veronica in a subtle applaud to the way she had come so close to rendering Logan speechless. He looked at Wallace and shrugged. "Do you think I'm pretty?"

"Can a man help a brotha out?" Wallace asked Duncan, taking the chips away from Dick and shoving a handful into his mouth.

"What in God's name am I doing here?" He asked Logan.

"Can I borrow thirty grand?"

Mac stumbled, almost physically as her eyes widened at the absurdity of Logan needing money from her. She coughed and then cursed. "Two down." She said as she took a swallow of her water. "Would playing drunk have any affect on the outcome?"

"Probably not." Logan told her, hopping up onto the railing and bracing his feet on the side. He watched as Mac and Parker shifted so Veronica could take her feet off of the porch swing and Duncan handed Lilly another hideously fat crayon for her coloring in her playpen. "Although we haven't decided what the winner of this little thing'll get."

"Winner's choice." Veronica told him carefully, and then she looked over at Piz. She had quickly learned that it wasn't so much delivery as shock value when it came to getting opponents out of the game. Parker had lost to a simple question, and Mac to something unreasonable. She smiled and focused on Wallace's roommate. "Would you bail me out of jail?"

Without thinking Piz nodded. "Yeah."

"Loser!" Wallace pointed to his best friend and then ran a hand over his hair. "That was just mean."

"It's a free for all Wally." Veronica frowned unapologetically at Piz. Then she set her sights on Dick. "Do I look like a people person?"

Without missing a beat, Dick turned to Wallace. "Who does she think she's fooling?"

Wallace looked over at Logan. "Guess who used to be a stoner?"

"Why's the sky blue?"

"Haven't I said that before?" Duncan shot over to Veronica, watching her falter just a little before she took a swig of her drink and looked over at her best friend.

"Did you say you wanted a banana?"

"Are you my Zen Master?" Wallace asked Duncan.

For a second Duncan actually looked shocked. "What am I missing?" He asked Logan.

_This game is taking too long. _Logan thought to himself, turning to Wallace. "You ever seen your best friend naked?" He asked with a wink. When Wallace blinked, he laughed. "You want to?"

"Oh My God Man!" Wallace relieved Logan of his beer and drained the bottle. "That was beyond wrong."

"I happen to agree with Wallace on that one." Duncan popped the top on another Corona and handed it to Logan.

"I'm in it to win." Logan said honestly. "And now there are four."

"You can't let him win." Mac told Veronica quickly. "He's gotten two of your best friends out, you can't let him win."

"Logan's got nothing on me." She took another sip of her drink and swallowed tightly. She knew she had rattled him when she asked about him kissing her. It was only a matter of time before she could find something that he wouldn't be able to bounce back from. "How you feel there, big guy?"

Logan noticed the way her shoulders squared and he couldn't help but laugh. "Can you believe her?"

From his place on the floor near Lilly, Duncan shook his head, looking back at his ex. "Where the hell have you been?"

Veronica turned to Dick. "Do you speak drunk?"

"What'd you do to the rug, dude?"

Duncan's composure faltered and he looked at Logan. "That stain will never come out you know?"

"Are you asking my advice, or having a soliloquy?" He asked Veronica with a chuckle.

She glanced at Duncan. "Was it good for you?"

The water he had just put in his mouth wound up on the other side of the deck and Duncan choked, knowing he was out. Leave it to Veronica to find the most inappropriate thing to say to get him laughing. "Keep it going." He told Dick, laughing again when the surfer realized he was only one of three left in the game.

"Aren't you ashamed of yourself?" Dick asked Veronica with a grin.

The smile she returned seemed to warn him he was next and Veronica turned to Logan. "Do you know how to keep your pants on?"

He took a breath and watched the look on Dick's face. As long as he kept his eyes off of Veronica he could handle almost anything that she had to say. His focus was on Dick, and getting Dick to mess up. "Dude, where's my car?"

"Who let the dogs out?"

Veronica stood and quirked an eyebrow. "What if I said I needed you?"

"Did you mean to sleep with that goat?"

"What?"

Veronica and Logan looked at each other even as Duncan nodded. "It's good." He decided, looking to Mac and Parker for confirmation. Piz was too busy watching the rapid fire of the three from Neptune to even notice that there had been a slight break in the action.

"Are you a virgin?"

Logan's face went slack as he shook off Veronica's question and bit his lip. The sooner he got his friend out of the game the sooner he could focus on Veronica. His next one was going to be a low blow and he knew it. "How's the family?"

There wasn't a second before a comment came to Dick's mind, but he watched Logan glance back at Veronica and nodded. He took a sip of his drink and then shrugged. "I'm out." He told the group.

"Aren't you going to say you're sorry?" Veronica shot out before Logan had a chance.

"Who said I had a choice?" He asked after a moment.

"When are you gonna get a real job?"

"Do you ever wait to hear what the subject is before you take sides against me?"

Veronica paused and tried her hardest to keep her smile. This game was turning out to be harder then she thought it would be playing against Logan alone. At least when the assault was coming from someone else she had a million other things she could say. Watching her ex look her up and down, she couldn't think of a single comeback. "Where are we going and why are we in this hand basket?"

Mac's smile grew as she watched Logan's eyes light up. This was going to be point one for team Logan, it was a shame that her best friend was faltering. "Do you want to settle for a spark or do you want to set the world on fire?"

He was directly in front of her now, and Veronica swallowed back the retort that she would have said. He had her. He knew he did. Her only hope was to try to throw him off kilter first. "Did you mean to fall asleep in my bed last night?"

Logan winked at her. He was going all in on his last question and if he didn't get her he'd just give up. "Did you know I love you?"

Veronica froze. She looked at Logan, and then spun to where Duncan and Wallace were on the floor, sharing the bowl of popcorn. She'd had the perfect retort in the back of her mind, and standing there looking at the way her exes eye bore into hers, she couldn't remember her own last name. She swallowed, and dropped back onto the bench.

* * *

_4:00 pm_

_Saturday, June 16th, 2007_

"You and I need to talk, dude." Logan dropped onto the bed next to Duncan and frowned as the Kane heir rolled to his side to put Lilly on the mattress. Duncan motioned to the balcony, and for half a second, Logan debated following him. Duncan was volatile on a good day, especially since he admitted to taking his meds on a regular basis for Lilly's sake. The last thing he wanted was to bring up a topic that would almost surely make him relapse. Duncan watched him expectantly and Logan realized that he made his bed; he might as well lie in it. "It's about Veronica."

The plan at the start of the trip had been simple; He would let Veronica tell Duncan about what had happened after he had left, and in turn, Logan would keep his mouth shut through the torture of Duncan trying to set them back up. It had worked really well until he realized that Veronica wasn't planning on sharing anything with their friend that might upset him. No matter how much he had tried to push, Veronica just kept saying that Duncan was better off not knowing.

It was a shame that Logan didn't feel the same way.

They were two days away from returning back to their regularly scheduled lives and it was about time for Duncan to hear the truth. And to hear why Logan wasn't about to declare his undying love for Veronica.

Duncan took a deep breath and blew it out of his nose. He had a feeling that whatever it was that Logan, Dick and Veronica were hiding from him was about to come to light. "What about her?"

"There's something you don't know about Graduation."

For a moment he looked confused. "Beaver's nosedive?" He clarified solemnly. "It made the headlines everywhere, man. What's not to know?" He checked over his shoulder to make sure Lilly was still sleeping and then watched his best friends face. "If this is about you and Ronica being on the roof with him – "

"She was going to shoot him." Logan confessed, taking a swig from the beer that Duncan realized was in his hand. He set it on the railing and pulled the cigarettes from his pocket, offering Duncan one. "I wouldn't have blamed her. Hell I wanted to do it."

"What are you talking about?"

"Beave shocked her with her own taser." Logan's voice was even, almost detached as he relayed the events on the roof to Duncan. He described how he had found her, sobbing over her cell phone, and how after he had wrestled the gun away from Cassidy that Veronica had trained it on him and almost pulled the trigger. There was a pause before Logan finally gave up the one piece of information that would make everything better and worse from there on out. "She was right." He started. "You weren't the only one with her at Shelly's."

The silence was deafening.

Logan was almost afraid to look at his friend, especially after Duncan's hand clenched on his cigarette. He took a deep breath, then another, and just when Logan thought he would be okay; Duncan spun in his seat and fast pitched his coffee mug against the side of the house. If he hadn't known that the rage would turn on him, he would have fussed that that was perfectly good coffee.

"She's gotten over the shock." He told his friend calmly, trying to maintain the façade that he always had when he spoke of Veronica's rape and what he had done to facilitate it. There would always be a time when Logan would feel responsible for everything that happened to Veronica in high school.

"Good for her." Duncan bit back.

"Then last year she decided to track down the campus rapist."

Duncan frowned, and then nodded. "I'm going to guess it didn't turn out well.

Logan shook his head. "She used herself as bait." He clarified. "She was drugged, and if Parker hadn't heard her, God only knows what would have happened to her."

Duncan could have sworn that Logan was trying to tell him something else. Then again he knew his friend too well. "You keep thinking about what they would have done to her?" He asked carefully.

"I can't get close again." He took a drag off of his cigarette and then leaned into the railing. "I'm not going to let myself get close again."

Duncan nodded. "You never backed off." He said sagely, knowing that the conversation was taking a turn away from where Logan wanted it to be.

"She's okay." He said at last, shifting back to Veronica and their original conversation. Male bonding time was over with.

Duncan nodded fluidly, side stepping Logan and heading back into Logan's room to pick his daughter off of the bed. He held her to his chest with a possessiveness that Logan had only seen once or twice before. "He better be glad he's dead." He almost growled.

"I'm sure he is." Logan smashed his cigarette butt on the railing and followed after his friend.

* * *

_6:55 pm_  
_Saturday, June 16th, 2007_

"Logan told me." It was a simple statement made over a simple dinner that tore the entire room apart. From her place next to Mac, Veronica froze, and she and Logan exchanged looks while Dick slammed back his drink. It seemed the everyone knew what was going on.

Almost everyone.

"Don't take this the wrong way," Logan said simply, looking to Piz. "But you and Parker need to get in the pool." It took all of three minutes for everyone at the table to understand what was going on and for Piz and Parker to vacate the room, Parker taking Lilly with her. "Now," he said simply. "You can say what you need to say."

"You told him?" Veronica was on her feet in almost an instant, pointing a finger at Logan and then looking to Duncan. "You had no right."

"I had every right!" The table was deafeningly silent, everyone waiting for the other shoe to drop. "I had a right to do what you wouldn't."

"You told him." Veronica pointed to Duncan again without sparing her friend a glance. She kept her eyes locked on Logan's and repeated herself.

"You were going to."

"I didn't want him to know!"

"SHUT UP!"

The entire table looked at Dick, who was now standing on the other side of Mac. "Shut up." He repeated. "So you didn't want Duncan to know that Beaver raped you. Big fucking deal. It's done. He knows." Dick turned fully to the table and shrugged. "This whole fucking world has taken so much from us, from all of us. And all the Aarons and the Celestes and the Cassidys of the world aren't around to give it back. So what?" He stopped and Mac reached out her arm to take his hand. He stuttered for a moment and then he blinked. "So I say we hold on to the only things that we can. And that we at least have friends that we can share our losses with."

There was a moment of silence, in which everyone seemed shocked that the outburst not only came from Dick, but made sense. And out of the silence, Mac decided that there was one loss that she never really allowed anyone else to know. Smiling she opened her lips.

"I was switched at birth with Madison Sinclair."

* * *

_8:20 pm_  
_Saturday, June 16th, 2007_

Of all of the places to dream about while on a vacation designed to purge the bad memories, the Kane back yard had to top the list in strangeness. Veronica stood at the back door staring at the perfectly groomed lawn that Celeste and Jake Kane paid so dearly for. She was about to turn to head inside when something to her left caught her eye.

The stain seemed to bleed itself onto the concrete, overly large and crimson and smelling of wet copper. The furnishings around the stain almost rearranged themselves, the loungers spreading out and tables moving from one side of the pool to the other, and the ashtray knocking itself into the pool to rest on its side in the deep end.

"_Did you know that it took the cleaning crew a full week to clean this up_?" The voice came from in front of her and behind her all at once, and for a second Veronica had to remind herself that she was dreaming to keep from going crazy. There was no reason why the echo that had taken up residence in her head was the voice of Lilly Kane.

The lounger to her left shifted slightly and Veronica's eye lit up as they followed it instinctively. "Lilly?"

There was a gash on her forehead, almost like the way it was after it had been cleaned by the coroner for her funeral. Her pep squad uniform was nowhere to be found, replaced by a pair of tight jeans that flared at the bottoms and a black halter-top that tied around the neck with an asymmetrical hem. Her toenails, something that Veronica had never really noticed on her friend before, were bare, something that Veronica knew Lilly never did. Her hair was down, which helped to hide the mark on her head, curling around the ends in a way that Veronica's used to.

"_Good to see you haven't forgotten me_." Lilly wrinkled her nose and looked around at what had been the scene of her death. She didn't try to keep her voice light. If Veronica could change then so could she. _"You can relax I'm not here to tell you of your impending doom or some crap_." She ran a hand through her hair and sighed. "_Well almost_."

Veronica took a step forward and moved around her friend, surveying the back yard at the Kane Estate. Every single detail reminded her of the night that she had stumbled upon the crime scene. She stepped over the smeared bloodstain on the concrete and turned to face her friend. "I haven't seen you in years." She admitted out loud.

"_You and I both know you're lying_." Lilly cocked an eyebrow and allowed her sly smile to cross her lips. "_After you caught the campus rapist and almost became his next victim you dreamed about me for a solid month_." She turned in a circle and looked down at her clothes. "_Granted those dreams were a little more __**pink**__."_ Veronica opened her mouth to respond and Lilly shook her head. "_Don't feel bad. Logan did too if you can get him to admit it. He kept thinking about what would have happened if Parker hadn't been there_." She rolled her eyes. "_I swear you died prettier then I did."_

Veronica stumbled over herself for all of three minutes. Then she took a deep breath and approached this the same way she would anything else. "What am I doing here?" She asked almost harshly, watching the stain dry and harden right in front of her eyes.

"_Okay, so I lied_." Lilly stepped directly on the spot where she had died, her eyes falling to the concrete for half a second, marveling at the look of her pale feet on the dried blood. "_You and I are going to have an argument_."

"What?"

"_Sorry, I just couldn't find the right lead in_." Lilly threw her hair over her shoulder and pursed her lips together.

"What could we possibly have to argue about?"

There was a second where the air around her best friend was electric. "I didn't do this to you."

She motioned to Veronica's body and when the younger blonde looked down she realized that she was dressed the way she was on the first day of junior year of high school. The day she met Wallace. "You just changed my clothes."

"I'm not the reason for the change." Lilly ran a hand through her hair, skimming over the spot on the side of her head and then she dropped her hands to her sides. "I didn't cause this."

"I was fine before you died." Veronica said shortly. So she may have been harboring some resentment for Lilly dying on her. There wasn't a person around who wasn't pissed at Lilly for leaving them.

Lilly let out harshly, her hands curling up underneath her face. "I didn't do this to you." She had made it through Duncan and Logan, and never once had she thought that Veronica would be the hardest. Then again, her conversation with Duncan had set the tone for her visit to Logan, and she had had a hell of a lot more to say to Veronica. "Me dying did not do this to you."

"I stopped trusting after you." Veronica said indignantly. "I had to learn to be alone."

"You stopped trusting after Logan." Lilly corrected. Her eyes darted around and finally settled on the stain. "I did it to Logan. Logan did it to you." She paused. "And you forgave him month's ago."

"What he did – "

"God damn it." Lilly snapped, slamming her palms into her thighs. "I'm not good with this kind of thing." She took a step back and sighed. "You need to know that I would give anything for you to feel whole again. I love you Veronica Mars."

"I love – "

"Logan also loves you." Lilly said clearly. "And you need to let him."

"Since when do you play matchmaker?"

Lilly laughed. "Since you started to fuck up your love life." She couldn't hold back any more giggles. "I mean, come on, the Donut? I handed you hotness on a platter and you went with the Donut?"

"I still hate you for this 'Lil." Veronica motioned to her clothes and sighed. "Your death did so much."

"Then take Dick's advice." She suggested with a shrug. "Hate Aaron."

"I already do."

Veronica woke to Lilly's voice in her ears. "I love you Veronica Mars."


	11. Chapter 10

**Title**: There and Back Again

**Word** **Count**:

**Rating**: PG-14 for language May change in the future

**Warnings**/**Spoilers**: If you know that Veronica and Logan broke up, Logan asked Parker out and Cassidy Casablancas' role in the second season; you're more than good to go.

**Summary**: On the first anniversary of Aaron Echolls death, Veronica and Logan decide to finally set their issues to rest, at the Echolls' cabin, with six of their nearest and dearest friends.

**Official Disclaimer**: All Veronica Mars characters and plots belong to Rob Thomas and the CW. I do not hold stock either the man or the company. Veronica Mars, Logan Echolls, and any other character featured are NOT mine.

**Author's** **Note** : One more chapter to go guys. The more reviews I get the sooner I'll post. And if anyone's willing to beta my full story so I can post it, or can come up with a banner for it, I would be appreciative.

* * *

**Chapter Ten**

_5:00 am_

_Sunday, June 17th 2007_

"Rise and Shine!" Veronica's voice waved through the rafters as she knocked on doors and bellowed down the hall. "Time to get to work!"

* * *

_11:32 am_

_Sunday, June 17th 2007_

Logan slammed the trunk and glanced over at his best friend, watching as Duncan transferred Lilly's car seat from Veronica's Saturn to his Range Rover and carefully buckling it in. He tested the straps before shifting the cooler to the trunk behind him. Even though they would have time to readjust everything in the morning, Duncan didn't want them to be rushed. The double checked the straps on Lilly's seat and slammed the door. "What about the clothes you brought for us?"

"I'll send them back to the suite with Dick." Logan said after a second, handing Duncan the beer that he had left on the hood of the car. They had all been up at five by order of Veronica, first to pack, and then to party. They were still working on the packing. "It's not like I've never worn your clothes before."

Duncan laughed. "You could just give them to the next guy to hit on Ronica." He suggested, sidestepping his best friend when Logan tried to give him a friendly shove up the steps. He stopped before he got to the top step, turning to look at the view off of the front porch. The sun was up full force and Duncan knew that that meant they only had a little more than twenty-four hours before he would be on a plane headed back to his condo on the beach and the world that they had created in the last nine days would more or less cease to exist. "I want you to be happy, Logan." He said at last as soon as he realized that they were the only ones out on the porch. Duncan dropped to the second from the top step and smiled wryly.

The younger of the two men blinked a few times before he sat down next to his friend. "If you go all chick flick on me dude I'll have to kill you."

Both men knew that was the closest Logan was going to get to admit that he wasn't happy. Duncan took a long swig of his beer before focusing on the clouds. It had felt great to be able to relax for a week with his friends and know that even though he was letting his guard down he and his daughter weren't vulnerable. Instead of addressing the threat, Duncan shook his head. "She makes you happy." He said quietly.

Logan shifted beside him nervously. They had spoken of the possibility of he and their mutual ex getting back together again in the abstract before, never anything that resembled that it was a definite possibility. He thought about snarking his way out of the conversation, but something about Duncan's posture made him stop. "She has the ability to bring out the best and the worst in me." He admitted.

"It's hard to let her go with all that could have been." He spared a quick look at his friend and then propped his elbows on his knees, dangling his beer bottle between his legs. "But I've discovered that you can't hold on to the past if you expect to live in the present." They could hear Veronica in the house, fussing with Wallace and Dick over something that sounded suspiciously like riding arrangements for the morning. When Logan didn't move Duncan actually turned his head. "You learn that you don't even want to try anymore."

Logan couldn't get over the look that had crossed his best friends face. There was no trace of the shadows that held Duncan's features for so long. The demons that had always been there after burying his sister were completely gone, and if he actually thought about it he would have discovered that that man left when Duncan fled the country with his daughter the first time. "What exactly are you trying to tell me, man." It almost choked out.

"She's yours, if you'll have her." Duncan smiled, looking out over the edge of the cliff to the mountains and trees below. "You know it, I know, Hell Ronica can't deny it now." He sighed and drained his bottle. "I'll always have the memories, and you'll always have her."

"What am I supposed to do with that?" Logan asked carefully, saluting his friend with his bottle before downing the remaining half. He paused with the bottle still pressed to his lips and then shook his head. "Yoda you are not."

"I need you to do me a favor." Duncan watched Logan's eyes widen at the change of subject and he smirked when he realized that Logan had no idea what was coming next.

Logan nodded. "And this favor will be?"

"You have to promise me you'll do it before I tell you what it is." He sounded like a four year old. And yes, Duncan intended for it to come out that way. He set his bottle down between his feet and looked at his best friend. "Please man?"

"Fine." He was gonna need another beer if Duncan was going to go all 'best friends forever' on him. "You have my word. I'll grant you any favor you ask of me."

He really should have been more specific.

Duncan's eyes lit up and Logan knew he was in trouble. "I want you to kiss Veronica at least once before we leave."

It was a good thing that Logan had no more beer in the bottle before he dropped it. It bounced off of the wooden steps before hitting the concrete that served as the front walk and cracking. "So not funny dude."

"Do you see me laughing?"

It was at that moment that Logan truly thought his best friend was crazy. It was the only explanation that he had for the fact that the man he'd known since kindergarten would ask **that** of him. "No." He said at last, propelling himself to his feet and practically jumping down the three steps to solid group.

"I've never known Logan Echolls to back out of a promise." Duncan didn't even shift in his seat. "And I'm not asking you to propose to her, man. Just kiss her."

His jaw set, Logan finally looked back at his friend. "I can't just walk up to Veronica Mars and kiss her."

Duncan laughed. "Sure you can." He tilted his head to the house and his smile got wider. "Veronica!"

The blonde in question had to force herself not to run to the porch when she heard her ex bellow for her. They had established a no shouting rule the very first night they were all at the cabin. Shouting meant bad things happened. "What's up?" She asked quickly, trying not to look the guys over for signs of blood.

"Logan needs to –"

"No he doesn't." Logan cut Duncan off before he realized that that would cause a bigger stir then the Kane's comment.

"Okay." She drew the word out as her arms crossed against her chest. She glanced from Logan over to Duncan and back again. The former looked as if he was ready to punch the latter, who seemed more then happy to be in the middle of the conversation. "Do I want to know?"

"No."

"Yes!"

Veronica would have laughed if Logan didn't look like he wished he could melt into the sidewalk. It had been a while since she got to see the Echolls/Kane Comedy show. "Okay, I'll bite." She ran a hand through her hair and tried to pretend that the three she was discussing traveling arrangements with hadn't followed her out onto the porch. "What doesn't Logan need to do that may or may not involve me that Duncan is yelling about?"

If Logan could have murdered his best friend without inheriting a toddler and a messy custody situation, Duncan would have been a dead man. "We were playing two man truth or dare." He tried to explain as ambiguously as possible.

"If you say you needed a witness for some male on male action," Veronica heard Wallace snicker behind her and had to try hard to suppress hers "I'm going to have to take pictures." She promised, her fingers itching to pull out her camera again on this trip. She had gotten more then a few great shots with her SLR and they had been passing disposables around like they were a dime a dozen.

"Logan doesn't want to follow through on his dare." Duncan cut his eyes to his best friend and then the smile on his face only seemed to grow.

It only took nine words for Wallace and Mac to pick up on what it was that Duncan wasn't telling them. Sadly Veronica couldn't say the same. She cocked her head to the side as Mac arched an eyebrow at Logan. "Since when is the great Logan Echolls shy?" Mac asked with a laugh.

He took the bait. "Hey Ronnie," When Veronica looked up, he smiled. "I think I want to cash in on my win."

There was no preamble. They didn't lean into a tender kiss like the kisses they had had many times before in their lives. Logan's hand shot up and attached itself to the back of her neck as Veronica clung to the lapels of his button down to steady herself. As his lips attacked hers, his other arm wrapped itself around her waist, pulling her flush against his body.

Veronica choked out a gasp, the second her lips parted, Logan snaked his tongue between them. Her legs felt like they were about to fall out from under her, and Logan only seemed to pull her closer, not letting the tiniest bit of space between them. Their tongues dueled for what felt like eternity, battling for supremacy until Veronica relented and sighed, pulling her tongue back into her own mouth.

A whistle sounded behind them, and Logan pulled back ever so slightly to glare at his best friend. He kissed Veronica on the forehead and walked into the house.

* * *

_3:39 pm_

_Sunday, June 17th 2007_

"He kissed me."

It was the fifteenth time she said it, and the third time that Mac was actually paying attention. She was sitting cross legged on the floor of Veronica's room with Parker, who was currently painting the computer techs toe nails, checking the email for her tech support web site. No one was interested in the fact that she was freaking out. Mac had seen it coming and, like the rest of the group, thought it was a long time coming. She'd understood Veronica's need to call a girls hour. Which was the only reason she was in there.

"He kissed me."

"Which he's done a zillion times." Parker pointed out while pointing at her with the egg plant nail polish. "I don't get why you're so freaked about this one.

"He's not supposed to kiss me!" Veronica snapped back. "He's allowed to briefly hold my hand and be the one I cuddle with during group times, but kissing and groping are not allowed."

Casually, Mac looked up. "There's your problem. You didn't explain you're inane rules to him." Lilly toddled across the room to them, and she closed her laptop. "Besides, I think he was doing it under duress anyway." She pulled Lilly into her lap and kissed her forehead. "I'd say that you're daddy had something to do with it."

"Which again has me asking why?" Veronica flipped through her cds and huffed. "Duncan knows that – "

"Duncan knows three things." Mac cut her off. "He knows that this little one is the most important thing in the world." Again Mac kissed Lilly, this time on the cheek. "He knows that you and Logan are his best friends, and he knows that in absence of himself there is only one person that you belong with." She looked around to make sure Veronica got her point. When she encountered a blank stare on the bed she laughed. "And it sure as hell isn't Piz."

Veronica shook her head. "He shouldn't know all of that..." Then her stare turned inquisitive. "How do you know what Duncan knows?"

"You bring us all to a cabin for a week and shut out the outside world, and then you expect us not to talk?"  
Mac almost couldn't believe that that was truly what Veronica expected. She had wanted to keep her pre-college years away from her post-high school years. It was a shame that that wasn't how this group worked. "Besides, you know that he's right and that's the most important thing."

"I know nothing of the sort." Veronica pulled Lilly from Mac's lap just to have something to focus on.

Mac set her laptop to the side and shook her head. "What's it gonna take Vee? Lilly popping back into your life, to realize that you and Logan belong together?"

Both friends shared a glare and Mac knew that she wasn't too far off of the mark.

* * *

_5:24 pm_

_Sunday, June 17th 2007_

It was going to be the last meal they would sit down and eat together, and before they had all agreed that it would be special. This was the only reason why Veronica willingly put her self in the kitchen with Logan to cook. They moved quietly, neither one really acknowledging the other, passing off ingredients without speaking. The end result would be marinated chicken, sautéed mushrooms, mashed potatoes and garlic bread with a side salad. The current situation was nothing short of awkward cooking.

"This is ridiculous." Logan had Veronica pinned in the corner between the sink and the stove, placing his hands on either side of her body. "You and I talk to each other, it's **what** we do."

"We don't kiss anymore." She said pointedly. "That's **not** what we do."

"We should." He brought his hands to her hips, and for once, she didn't flinch away. "Ronnie, we've been through too much to let your neurosis and my insecurities to get the best of us." She shook her head, backing herself all the way into the corner. "You can't tell me that you don't miss us." When her head shook again, Logan laughed. "Come on, I'm sex on a stick, and you're the best damn thing that's happened to me in a long long time."

She mumbled something, and it wasn't until he asked for clarification that she held her chin up and smiled slightly. "Hotness on a platter." She informed him carefully.

"Funny. " His voice dropped in remembrance, and there was a second when the two could read each other perfectly. "That's what Lills used to call me."

"I've been hearing her voice in my head a lot lately."

His head dipped slowly, his nose brushing against hers. "So why don't you listen for once, Veronica Mars?"

Her answer was a kiss.

* * *

_9:45 pm_

_Sunday, June 17th 2007_

"Last night, last game." Logan declared, moving slowly toward the pool with the baby monitor in one hand. He had laid Lilly down for the night while everyone else had gotten changed into their swimsuits, and then changed himself. Dick and Duncan had already doled out drinks , Veronica holding one for him, and they were settling into the hot tub for one final goodbye before the morning. "Parker, name one person you wish was here."

Her voice was confident. "Lilly." She said slowly, drawing out the name. "I wish Lilly were here."

"You missed it Park," Duncan laughed. "She already was."

One out of four on the back deck laughed to themselves. "I second that one." Wallace said after a moment. "After all, what's the fab four minus one?"

Pretending to think for a minute, Logan shook his head. "The terrifying three?" He asked the crowd with a shrug.

Veronica smiled as Logan pulled her and her tiny green bikini into his lap. "Sounds right to me."

He snuck a kiss behind her ear and smiled when she shivered. "What about you Ronnie?" He asked while sliding their joined hands up her thigh. "Name one person you wish was here."

"My dad."

"Ronica." Duncan's voice was skeptical. "I know you had a good day and all, but I'm still one of two fugitives who would like to stay away from jail time and foster care." He laughed as Logan kissed her again and she frowned. "Now you can explain."

"He always said that he wanted me to be happy." She explained carefully. "Now I really am and he's not here to see why."

"I don't think Keith is going to care about the why as long as you still have the happy when you get back." Wallace said slowly, nodding his head to Logan and then laughing when Logan's hand twitched and Veronica squirmed. "Just keep the PDAs to a min and he'll be okay."

"Well said." Duncan raised the fist holding the beer to bump it against Wallace's. "And leave all references about me out of it." He nodded to the phone that Veronica had brought out and set next to the baby monitor. "Your father's a smart man."

"Which means he could be halfway here already and we need to stop thinking about that." Veronica shut her eyes and then opened and looked at Dick. "Who do you think should be here?"

The first word out of Dick's mouth surprised no one. "Beaver." He said with a heavy heart and tense lips. "Because if he were here it would mean that he didn't do any of that shit." There was a smile on his lips when Mac placed the hand not holding her drink on his leg. "He was still my brother. It doesn't matter what he did or why, he's my brother."

"May Woody Goodman rot in hell!" Logan's voice echoed off of the canyon and he looked over at Duncan and smiled when he nodded.

"Amen!"

* * *

Please Review


	12. Chapter 11 : The End

**Title**: There and Back Again

**Word** **Count**: 2,997

**Rating**: PG-14 for language May change in the future

**Warnings**/**Spoilers**: If you know that Veronica and Logan broke up, Logan asked Parker out and Cassidy Casablancas' role in the second season; you're more than good to go.

**Summary**: On the second anniversary of Aaron Echolls death, Veronica and Logan decide to finally set their issues to rest, at the Echolls' cabin, with six of their nearest and dearest friends.

**Official Disclaimer**: All Veronica Mars characters and plots belong to Rob Thomas and the CW. I do not hold stock either the man or the company. Veronica Mars, Logan Echolls, and any other character featured are NOT mine. I also don't claim ownership to the song lyrics in this one. They're by The Calling, and I found them fitting.

* * *

_**I came to tell you**_

_**How it all began**_

_**Nothing seems to work out right**_

_**I'm broken down again**_

_**So hold me now**_

_**Say it's not forever**_

_**'Cause maybe someday in time**_

_**Things will go my way**_

_9:12 am_

_Monday, June 18th 2007_

The car pulled out of the driveway with less fanfare than one would have thought the week would have required. Bags were packed and routes were planned the night before, just as when they arrived, and cell phones had been traded along with car keys immediately following the all too quick breakfast that Logan had created from the fruit and cereal that had been left over. Mac couldn't help her sigh as she dropped Veronica's sidekick into an empty cup holder and flipped down the visor in Veronica's Saturn. She double checked the clock and then turned off of the dirt road and onto the paved one that led to the highway.

"Hell of a vacation, huh?"

She adjusted the rearview mirror with one hand even as Parker turned in her seat. "Understatement of the year, Casablancas." She muttered over the radio. Her iPod hadn't been plugged in yet, more or less forgotten in the cup holder next to Veronica's phone, and judging by the mood in the vehicle, she would have to guess that it would be a while before anyone requested road tunes. She watched his eyes register her words, and then swallowed harshly. "But I'd have to agree."

"How many times in your life do you think you'll have to say that?" Dick's lopsided grin was contagious; Mac couldn't help but to return it.

Parker watched the exchange with an odd fascination. "I won't be forgetting it any time soon."

"I don't think any of us will." Mac turned her attention back to the road as Dick's eyes caught hers in the mirror. They both looked away in a blink and Mac's smile turned downward for a moment.

"Nor should we." It wasn't often that Dick was this lucid this close after waking up, but Mac wasn't that surprised. Since his outburst two days ago it was almost like he was a different person. "This was one for the history books."

The Saturn burst on the highway and Mac's foot pushed down the accelerator. Her smile widened. "I for one can't wait to do it again."

_**I've pushed to get through**_

_**The crowds of twisted souls**_

_**Just to find I'm right back here**_

_**Doing what I'm told**_

_**So take my hands**_

_**Don't let me surrender**_

_**'Cause maybe someday in time**_

_**Things will go my way**_

_10:22 am_

_Monday, June 18th 2007_

"We're all set." Wallace made one more trip into the kitchen to make sure his thermos of coffee had made it into Mac's Volkswagen before stopping in the formal living room to look at the crowd that had gathered there. Lilly was playing with a stuffed animal on the floor between the couch and the unused fireplace, her little hands banging the poor toy into the floor as her father looked on from his place in the leather chair behind her. Veronica and Logan were going over last minute driving directions, just to make sure that everyone would come into town from different directions, and Piz was trying not to jump out of his skin. It had been easier to keep the man calm back when he didn't know that Duncan was a known fugitive and they all could go to jail for the week they had just had.

"You're going to get off at the college exit." Veronica told him smoothly, handing him the papers that she and Logan had been playing with. "It'll be easier for dad to think that Mac and Parker are going to the dorms."

"You sure?" He didn't miss the way Piz's eyes shifted uncomfortably. "It'll put the Rover going straight to the airport." Logan nodded and Veronica and Duncan both glanced from the map to Wallace.

But Veronica would not be deterred. "It helps that Logan's phone is with Dick." She decided. "And I don't think Dad'll think much about you and Dick riding through town on your way to the Grande."

If it was good enough for Veronica, it was good enough for Wallace, who simply grabbed the folder Logan was offering him with the new plans and palmed Mac's keys. "Let's roll out."

They reached the bottom of the steps as a group and Duncan dropped a hand onto Wallace's shoulder. "Thanks again." He said after a moment, trying his hardest to figure out exactly what he was thanking his ex's best friend for. Wallace had always been there for Veronica, and he seemed more then just a little too nonchalant about the fact that he had picked up a wanted fugitive a week ago and was now playing decoy so said felon could get back on a plane.

"Don't mention it." He double checked the back seat and forced himself to take a calming breath. "It's all part of the 'Veronica's my best friend' package." He smiled to himself as he shook Duncan's hand. "And I should be the one thanking you."

"Don't mention it." Duncan shook Piz's hand. "It was great meeting you, man." Piz just nodded and then bolted for the side of the car.

With Lilly on her hip, Veronica sidestepped Logan and wrapped one arm around Wallace's shoulders. "I'll see you back at the Grande." She whispered in his ear. He dropped a kiss to Lilly's head and smiled when she giggled.

Wallace nodded at Logan, who gave him the usual two-finger salute before making sure that Mac's cell phone was plugged into the charger. He cranked the ignition and threw the Bug into reverse as Duncan and Veronica waved from the porch.

He couldn't help but feel sorry for the loss of what he'd become comfortable with over the last week. He'd seen a new side to his best friend that he never thought he'd be privy to, and he'd realized just what she'd been missing when he came into her life. The Veronica of her past had merged with the Veronica that he had met, and he only hoped this time she didn't second guess herself into thinking that she shouldn't have the happiness she wanted.

With another wave, Wallace threw the vehicle into drive and sped down the dirt road.

_**For all the lies I've tasted**_

_**Just looking for the truth**_

_**For all the dreams I'm chasing**_

_**What am I to do?**_

_**When everything's against me**_

_**And the answers are all wrong**_

_**I'm hoping that I found out**_

_10:53 am_

_Monday, June 18th 2007_

One final check of the house and two final checks of the Range Rover later, it was truly time to go.

Veronica strapped Lilly into her car seat while Logan left a list of instructions for the caretaker and made sure that the cooler was restocked for the return trip. The little girl looked around expectantly and finally stopped trying to make sense of her new predicament when Veronica handed her the stuffed elephant that Logan had bought for her. It had become one of her favorite toys in the last few days, and she was glad that Lilly would have something to hold on to from this trip.

She found Duncan on the edge of the cliff that served as the front yard. She'd taken seven steps away from the Range Rover when he realized that he was being watched. Nine before he realized that his life wasn't over just because he was going home.

"She would have loved this."

Veronica didn't have to ask whom he was referring to.

"She did love this." She answered confidently, knowing full well that they hadn't truly been alone for this trip. Nine people had traveled to the cabin, but there was ten there for the duration. If she didn't believe in spirits before she sure as hell did now. "You know she did."

Duncan took one last swig of his soda and flung the can off the side of the cliff. It felt good to know that somewhere down below would be proof that he was home one more time. "I don't think I realized how much I missed her until this week." He ran a hand over his head and finally turned to the tiny blonde at his side. "Or you guys."

"We miss you too." Veronica forced her arm around his back and just stood there for a moment. From the bottom of the canyon she could hear laughter and it took her a second to realize that it was only in her head.

There was a cough from behind as Logan wrapped his arms around Veronica and spun her around to face the car. "Everything's locked up." He announced, resting his head on top of hers. "What do you say that we get you and Little Bit to the airport on time?"

"There are days that I don't recognize you." Duncan bumped into the two beside him as he spun and waved at the baby in the car. He gave Logan a friendly shove back toward the Rover and laughed when Veronica shouted for shotgun and raced to the passenger side.

Logan's smirk could probably been seen from space as flicked the lock button on the vehicle remote and flipped his key ring around his middle finger. "As long as they are few and far between." He bumped shoulders with Duncan and hit the button again, pulling open the door for Veronica so she could climb into her seat. He shut the door behind her and double checked Lilly once more before shutting her door as well.

He made it around to his side just as Duncan slammed his door and he gave one final look at the cabin before climbing in and throwing the keys into the ignition. Veronica had his iPod hooked to the stereo before he could ask, and he threw it into reverse without thinking. After a quick three point turn he stopped, double checked his mirrors and the air and threw it into drive again, the hand that was out of the window waving to the past.

From the porch Lilly waved back.

_**For all the lies I've tasted**_

_**Just looking for the truth**_

_**For all the dreams I'm chasing**_

_**What am I to do?**_

_**When everything's against me**_

_**And the answers are all wrong**_

_**I'm hoping that I'll find out**_

_**It was worth it all along**_

_3:55 pm_

_Monday, June 18th 2007_

The Saturn pulled into the Neptune Grande parking lot just a little behind schedule, and Parker shot out of the vehicle before Mac could put it in park, racing into the building to locate a restroom. Mac didn't think twice about handing the keys to the valet as she popped the trunk and Dick let himself out of the back to instruct the bellhop standing by to get them a cart so they could unload. He could hear Mac snort at the look on Parkers face when she jetted across the lobby.

"You know last road trip I had the exact same effect on the person in shotgun." He whispered, leaning his forearms on the car next to her while the hotel staff unloaded the car.

"I think Veronica wished she had a shotgun." Mac whispered back, trying her hardest to remember that the person next to her had been responsible for almost all of the reprehensible things that had been done to her and her friends over the years. It was a shame that she had memories of the last few days. They would make even the worst that Dick Casablancas did seem not so bad. She almost leaned into him as she was bumped out of the way of the bellhop trying to unload the trunk.

Reminding himself the important things were hidden in Logan's car, Dick watched impassively as the men worked. "What do you say we order junk food from room service until the others get here?" He asked with a smirk. "A few fried potatoes and some Monty Python?"

Mac's smile could probably have seen from space. As could the VW Bug that pulled up beside the Saturn. "Sounds like a plan to me." She allowed Dick to wrap his arm around her shoulders and wandered into the building behind their luggage. She'd let Wallace worry about his own bags.

_**So hold me now**_

_**Say it's not forever**_

_**'Cause maybe someday in time**_

_**Things will go my way**_

_4:22 pm_

_Monday, June 18th 2007_

Logan pulled his SUV into the drop off zone and killed the engine. He hadn't even opened the door before Veronica was out, pulling Lilly's carrier out of the passenger side and kissing the top of her head.

"Would now be a good time to beg you to stay?" Veronica hadn't taken Lilly out of her carrier yet. She was almost afraid to pick her up for fear that she might not let her go.

"Only if I can remind you that the Manning's have upped the reward on me," Duncan checked his wallet for his driver's license and changed the passport in his jacket pocket for the one that Logan handed him from the glove compartment. Since Keith Mars had become aware of Ron Logan, they had to pull another alias out of reserve. Kane and Megan Mars were leaving Neptune instead and then he would pick back up DK Ellington in San Francisco to get him home. He'd have to remember to have Clarence Weedman write Logan a check for his expenses. "You could try to help with that you know? I'm sure Clarence would love the assistance" He kissed Veronica on the cheek and grabbed the duffle bag that Logan was pulling out of the trunk.

"I'll see what I can come up with." She promised lightly, kissing Lilly again before handing the carrier over to Logan. She stepped up to Duncan with both arms open and then sighed. "I'm gonna miss you DK." She smiled sadly.

"You'll see me again."

She smacked him on the shoulder and shook her head. "Not what I meant smart ass." Her arms came around his shoulders in a fierce hug and his followed suit. "I love you."

"I love you too." He whispered into her ear. "And I'll see you in a few months."

They pulled apart and the carrier was once again handed back to Veronica as Logan stepped forward. "You gonna cry Kane?" He asked as he held out his hand. Once Duncan took it, he pulled the younger man into a hug.

"Not on your life." Duncan shook his head. "It was good to see you man. The real Logan Echolls." Both men slid apart, and Logan's arm immediately slipped around Veronica's waist. "All he needed was the right boost."

"Boost your kid." Veronica snapped playfully, holding out the carrier. "And get her home safely."

"Say bye-bye 'Lil." He waved at Veronica and Logan in view of Lilly, and laughed when Lilly did the same. "We love you." He said seriously.

As Duncan turned towards the terminal, both of Logan's arms wrapped themselves around Veronica's waist and he felt her shudder against him. "They'll be okay." He whispered softly, kissing the back of her head.

Veronica smiled lightly. "I'm more worried about us."

_**To all that I held on to **_

_**That slipped right through my hands**_

_**To all the stones I've thrown out **_

_**That washed up on the sands**_

_5:13 pm_

_Monday, June 18th 2007_

With a heavy heart Duncan trudged through the security line to the metal detectors, Lilly high on one hip and her duffle bad bouncing against the other. Part of him wished that he wasn't so paranoid in open spaces so Lilly could sleep in her carrier while he ran through the checkpoints. The line came to a dead stop and Lilly seemed to jolt awake, throwing her pacifier onto the floor with a huff that would have made her aunt proud.

"Why'd you do that Silly-Lilly?" Duncan asked with a sigh. He set her carrier down onto the floor and rotated his shoulder to drop the bag beside it. "I should have left you with your uncle shouldn't I? You liked him better." He had just started to crouch when a hand shot out of nowhere, holding the pacifier up for him to take. "Thank – "

Duncan followed the tan colored sleeve up to the badge on the man's chest.

With a nod, Keith let go of the pacifier. "Have a safe flight, son."

_**In the eyes of inspiration**_

_**Something's gotta change**_

_**I'm hoping that I'll find out **_

_**Things will go my way**_

Fin.


End file.
